GE Power and Fincantieri today announced the co-development of a new emission control solution to reduce pollution in the marine industry, according to a joint statement.

The new solution, called Shipboard Pollutant Removal System, will help control emissions to be compliant with MARPOL’s more stringent emissions limits directive that will be effective by 2020. The agreement, which follows a previous memorandum of understanding between the two companies from last September, was signed today by Sandro De Poli, president and CEO of GE Italy and Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri.

Giuseppe Bono stated: “We are proud to announce this one-of-a-kind agreement. In fact, no shipbuilder before had ever established a partnership to reduce emissions with a system manufacturer, that is one of among the leaders in the area in which it operates. This strategy, having cutting-edge research and innovation at the forefront, will allow us to furthermore raise the bar of technology to the benefit of the cruise market, in a sector, as the one of minimization of environmental impact, which is so significant for our customers.”

“This agreement builds on GE’s and Fincantieri’s long-term relationship and we are proud to develop such an innovative solution with one of the main shipbuilders in the world”, said Sandro De Poli. “To develop the Shipboard Pollutant Removal System, we will combine Fincantieri expertise and GE’s deep domain experience in air quality technologies for the reduction of pollutants in different fields, such as power, aluminium, iron and steel and waste to energy.”

According to the agreement, Fincantieri will define the necessary technical requirements to design an emission control system for a vessel, including constrains and improvements to develop a competitive product. GE Power, with one of the most comprehensive portfolio to treat all main industrial pollutants for power and industry applications and 80 years of experience in environmental control solutions, will define the features that are necessary for an emission control system, to help meet the target performances.

The new product to control SOx and particulates emissions is developed for cruise vessels but can be installed on all vessels using heavy fuel, the statement said.