HONG KONG – Mr. Nobu SU, Chairman of Today Makes Tomorrow Group (“TMT”) successfully registered a patent in Singapore for Hybrid Ship, a hybrid technology that enables a variety of vessels, including bulk carriers, tankers, PCTC and LNG ships to enhance fuel efficiency.

The innovation consists of a conventionally driven main propeller and an electrically driven duct propeller; the combination allows for reduced fuel consumption, particularly when a vessel is travelling with minimum ballast.

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore granted the patent on August 28, 2015. A patent was also granted by the Liberia Industrial Property Office back in January 13, 2014 for a period of 20 years. Several patents will continue to be pursued by Mr. SU and his partners, who made filings with 25 shipping nations in total.

In respect of the latest patent registration, Mr. SU said, “I trust that as more patent offices register Hybrid Ship, the technology will be more readily adopted, which will help tackle problems associated with the transfer of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens through ballast water. Such a transfer has already seen the Pacific saury affected – a species found in the subarctic and subtropical North Pacific that is regularly harvested by Chinese, Japanese and Russian fishermen. With the Hybrid Ship technology, a vessel requires minimum ballast water, and therefore reduces the risk of water contamination affecting the eggs of this fish.”

Further aiding the crusade against water contamination is another invention of Mr. Su, namely, Oceannet, which enables the transmission and reception of data via an offshore mobile communications network. Patented in the United Kingdom, United States and Korea, Oceannet can be used to relay the best navigation routes when vessels are travelling with reduced ballast, thereby maximizing efficiency while at the same time minimising their impact on marine life.

For implementation, all ships designed and built under Nobu Su had visionary built the system equipped with the Hybrid system including Whales, Elephants and Ladybugs series built by Hyundai Heavy industry and DSME in Korea.