Shell Marine’s Global Technical Manager Sara Lawrence and Global Marketing Manager Marcus Schaerer have met MarineDeal News for an exclusive interview
We talked about global environmental matters and alternative energy; along with enhancing reliability through lubrication solutions and Shell Marine’s MILES programme. “A unique approach to lubricants management can help to improve reliability, efficiency and profitability,” says Schaerer.
Can you introduce yourself and Shell Marine briefly, please?
SL: My name is Sara Lawrence and I’m the Global Technical Manager in Shell Marine. So, what I do is basically to manage the technical team looking after the customers from a technical perspective and making sure that all of the things we deliver through our technical services are delivered to an appropriate standard.
MS: My name is Marcus Schaerer, and I’m the Global Marketing Manager. I’m in the marine industry for 25 years now, 17 years of it for Shell Marine, actually. Shell provides lubricants for the marine industry through Shell Marine. It serves over 10 thousand vessels, ranging from large ocean-going tankers to small fishing boats in over 700 ports across 60 countries. The advice and technical services we provide help our customers achieve maximum value from using our lubricant products across all types of machinery and equipment on a ship.
How was 2017 for Shell Marine and what are your expectations from 2018?
MS: 2017 sees Shell Marine launched its new Marine Integrated Lubrication and Expert Solutions (MILES) program aims to help by combining purchasing options, services and an extensive lubricant range into a strategy that addresses these pressing operational concerns. This unique approach to lubricants management can help to improve reliability, efficiency and profitability.
SL: Over the past 16 months, we’ve upgraded our four-stroke Shell Gadinia and Argina crankcase oils to be ‘2020 ready’. The new oils have been optimized to deal with the faster viscosity increase and BN depletion experienced by oils in modern medium speed engines, which work at pressures between 10-17 percent higher than their predecessors and oil temperatures approaching 300 degrees at the top crown.
How do you see the Global Marine Industry today and what is Turkey’s position in it?
MS: Turkey is a strategic trading region linking the Black Sea market to the rest of the world, and is an emerging market with a big potential. The Turkish Maritime Industry offers immense opportunities to boost the country’s trade ties with its neighbors. Of the total goods transported into and out of the country, 85 percent go through Turkey’s 71 ports. More than 40 thousand vessels pass through Turkish Straits every year, which means that Istanbul is a strategic point for all suppliers. It is historically in the top 10 ports in our network, in terms of delivering Marine Lubricants volume.
SL: The rising trade activities in the Turkish Straits have ensured steady demand from the Turkey marine lubricants market for years to come. Combined with Turkey’s willingness to incorporate environmental standards into its growing shipping industry, this could make Turkey the dominant player in the Europe marine lubricants market.
Environmental subjects gain significant roles in everyday life; and in business world along with it. What does Shell and Shell Marine do for a greener Earth? What is ‘Sky Scenario’ concept? And looking at today’s achievements, do you think that Paris Agreement will fulfill its goals and mission?
SL: A new energy system is emerging. The Paris Agreement has sent a signal around the world: Climate change is a serious issue that governments are determined to address. By 2070, there is the potential for a very different energy system to emerge.
MS: Shell’s latest energy-system scenario, called Sky, illustrates a technically possible, but challenging pathway for society to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. Sky builds on earlier Shell scenarios publications and is our most optimistic scenario in terms of climate outcomes. The Sky scenario outlines what we believe to be a technologically, industrially and economically possible route forward; consistent with limiting the global average temperature rise to well below 2°C from pre-industrial levels. It reveals the potential for an energy system to emerge that brings modern energy to all in the world, without delivering a climate legacy that society cannot readily adapt to. Sky shows a transformation to a lower-carbon energy system, with the world achieving the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement. Consumers, companies and governments will face tough choices and the paths towards lower-carbon energy will vary by country, geography and sector. Over the course of 50 years, it transforms the way society uses and produces energy. But while encouraging news, success towards the Paris Agreement aim is not guaranteed. The Sky scenario relies on a complex combination of mutually reinforcing actions by society, markets and governments. It recognises that the necessary changes will unfold at different paces in different places, and must ultimately transform all sectors of economic activity. The changes are economy-wide, sector specific, and amount to re-wiring the global economy in just 50 years.
SL: Scenarios are not policy proposals; they do not argue for what should be done, nor forecasts what will be done. They are not predictions, nor business plans, and investors should not rely on them to make decisions. Scenarios can reveal useful insights and show us potential pathways the world might take. Some pathways are more plausible than others, but all challenge society to make tough decisions.
Can you tell us about MILES; and Shell Marine’s technical services, latest technology products and smart payment schemes, too?
MS: Our new Marine Integrated Lubrication and Expert Solutions (MILES) programme aims to help by combining purchasing options, services and an extensive lubricant range into a strategy that addresses these pressing operational concerns. This unique approach to lubricants management can help to improve reliability, efficiency and profitability.
SL: We offer an extensive range of lubricants for engines and equipment onboard the vessels. We have developed our portfolio to help optimize performance in new fuel-efficient engines, existing engines with years of life ahead, engines operating at full and part loads, and engines working inside and outside Emission Control Areas. Our range of technical services can help you get the most from our product portfolio, thereby helping you to achieve greater equipment reliability, reduced downtime and early diagnosis of potential faults.
MS: Ordering lubricants can be a complex and time-consuming process, and poor decision making can create cost overruns. Typically, 30 percent of lubricants are purchased as multiple small orders, which creates an additional administrative burden.
SL: MILES is powered by advanced technology that uses integrated vessel tracking, route prediction and intelligent consumption modelling to support and improve your procurement operations. This web-based service gives you the potential to free yourself from manual operational tasks while identifying opportunities to drive value and reduce your operating costs. The information generated enables us to recommend lubricant quantities and the best uplift ports for you based on real-time consumption and sailing patterns. The service manages end-to-end vessel lubrication and offers you effortless replenishment alerts telling you when you need auxiliary oils optimized economics through reducing the number of lifts and targeting these for efficient port visits availability confirmation in advance of orders.
MS: Through MILES, we offer different payment solutions such as ‘Flexi-pay’ or ‘instalment’ that can help you to optimize your working capital and budgeting. We believe that helping ship owners to flatten their operating expenses as well as their budgets will benefit them over time. We work with ship owners to assess and offer payment schemes to help optimize their working capital outlay: Monthly payments, which is cost of lubrication per month; and mileage payments, that is to say, cost of lubrication per mile.
Shell released The 2017 Sustainability Report on 9 April. Can you tell us a bit about it, please? What are the main topics, results and goals that come forth in it?
SL: The 2017 Sustainability Report outlines the company’s approach to sustainability and details Shell’s social, safety and environmental performance for the year. Sustainability is essential to the way we do business. This means providing energy in a responsible manner, respecting people, their safety and the environment. This report focuses on the key sustainability challenges we face and the way we are responding. Each year, we use a structured process to select the report’s content and confirm its validity. We engage with various groups and individuals to understand specific concerns about our business and its impact around the world, particularly in relation to the environment and society.
MS: Shell has used external review panels in our sustainability reporting since 2005. They help us evaluate the quality and credibility of our Sustainability Report and improve our reporting. The Report Review Panel, previously called the External Review Committee, comprises six sustainability and corporate reporting experts. The report is an account of our sustainability actions and social, safety and environmental performance in 2017. The report sets out how Shell is playing a role in the energy transition. It details Shell’s contribution to society, which includes providing people with access to energy products. The company also contributes through paying taxes, procuring local goods and services, hiring locally and supporting social investment programs. We work hard to do the right thing, to avoid harm to people and to manage our impact on the environment.
What do you think about renewable energy and fuel sources like wind, electricity, LNG, etc.? Does Shell have present investments on renewables, and if so, what are they?
SL: Energy systems are undergoing change, at varying rates and degrees of complexity across the globe. This change is driven by growing energy demand and an urgent need to curb emissions; technological advances are opening up new possibilities. The world is expected to see increased electrification, with renewables complemented by cleaner fossil fuels meeting demand. In developed countries, digital technologies are growing rapidly, increasing speed and choice in daily life. Now, more than ever, the customer must come first. We are keen to play our part in the transition towards a low-carbon future. But any route we pursue must make commercial sense. In 2016, we created a New Energies business, which supports our aim to power human progress through more and cleaner energy solutions. These go beyond traditional renewables: despite their critical role, renewables cannot meet all the world’s energy needs. Renewables chiefly generate electricity, which today only meets around 20 percent of global energy demand.
MS: New Energies is actively exploring three main areas of opportunity. First, new fuels for transport. The importance of moving the world’s growing number of people and goods must be balanced with efforts to reduce CO2 and local emissions. Our activities range from developing advanced biofuels to launching hydrogen stations, for example in Germany and the USA. We also offer GTL, which can help lower local emissions, and are starting to provide electric-vehicle fast-charging on forecourts. Second, renewable power which includes wind and solar. We already have an established wind business and are developing new projects. In solar, we are building on our experience to look for potential business models while increasingly using solar in our own sites and operations. We recognise the importance of storing renewable energy and are investing in innovative storage solutions in their early stages. We are also developing models to help customers better manage their energy use, while at the same time looking at commercial opportunities to bring power to remote communities. Thirdly, we are looking at ways to connect customers with new business models for mobility and energy services, enabled by digital technologies and the decentralisation of energy systems. We have, for example, developed an app which allows drivers to pay for fuel from inside their vehicle, as well as a system for home owners to bring their bills together and save money. Our New Energies business unites our experience, partnerships and technical know-how to help enable new ways to continue powering progress together towards a more sustainable energy future.
