Piping concept ready to aim at high-end market

Originating from civil engineering, Ontop has been active in the shipbuilding industry with their exhaust gas systems since the 1990s. Although the company is from the Netherlands, their first deliveries to shipyards were in Germany. As the company gained experience in the maritime industry worldwide, now is the time to convince Dutch yards of the benefits of their pipes, too. The company shows a reverse approach: international market first, now the home land.

Following recent product development, specially for the shipbuilding industry, Ontop is now ready to acquire a solid position in the highly innovative Dutch industry. With the product line complete and of consequent concept, the company is ready to enter the high-end market. Ontop claims to save thousands of kilograms in weight of an exhaust pipe installation, as well as saving costly time of installation with their modular exhaust pipe system. Although their Metaloterm AD pipes come in the same diameters and are also stainless steel, the weight is a feather compared to solid pipes. Layers of metal are very thin in the double pipes: only half or eight tenth of a millimetre. In between the inner and the outer pipe there is a layer of rock wool, isolating sound, heat and vibrations. The doubled construction together with occasional chines in the metal ensure sufficient strength of the exhaust piping installation. Each length of Metaloterm AD pipe is no longer than 100 centimetres, with a weight of no more than 32 kilograms at the largest 24 inch diameter. Any engineer can easily carry it through doors, put it in place and install it single-handed. The pipes connect with a simple click system, sealed with a glass fiber gasket and secured with locking bands. Instead of having cranes tilt large and heavy pipes aboard, where they need to be welded, the Metaloterm engineer can carry the material, needing nothing more than a screwdriver.

Safe is simple

“During the last decades, we have completed our portfolio for the shipbuilding industry”, account manager marine Ruud de Voogd affirms. “We are currently in the process to get A60 fire safety classification. When a fire should burn in a quarter our pipe goes through, it should remain intact, the mounting through the bulkhead

Silence and no vibration

should remain intact and the temperature in the adjoining room should not go up too high; heat transfer should be kept to a minimum, according to IMO. We have gained ample experience with installing extensive exhaust pipes through a variety of vessel types. Classification inspections always study our installation as it is not a standard application in shipping. Every time, approval was granted.”

Safety and silence come with the simplicity of design for Metaloterm’s AT pipes. Thin layers of metal cannot transfer a lot of heat. The metal of the inner pipe is isolated from the outer pipe over the whole length of the installation. Because the pipe is so light, it will not transfer vibrations. Rockwool isolation dampens the pressure peaks that exude from the opening of engine valves.

Fireplace

The route from building installations and exhaust piping for natural gas in homes and factories towards providing an innovative exhaust programme for shipbuilding has generated product improvement for the whole portfolio, also outside the marine branch of the company. Ontop was founded in 1965 as Amgas, set up to be a local gas installation company in the town of Amersfoort, the Netherlands. In the early years, the company imported modular chimneys for in-house heating installations from Canada. Soon, the company decided to start its own product development and production and therefore moved to Middelburg in the province of Zeeland. Growth was accelerated by the discovery of large quantities of natural gas in the Netherlands. Much more households switched to gas as their main heating fuel at that time. Adding stainless steel to the – then – mostly aluminium product line, the company started exporting stainless steel exhaust pipes to Germany in 1975. The German daughter company was named Ontop. In 1996, this name was adapted for the whole company, underlining the then established international character of the enterprise. Metaloterm was chosen as product name for the isolated stainless steel pipes, and also as the name of the French daughter company. In the 1970s and 1980s, the product portfolio grew because of the popularity of open fireplaces in homes. These needed to have other, more heat and fire resistant chimneys than the gas heating installations.

Concept completing

It was the AT pipe, resistant of internal chimney fires, that proved applicable and trustworthy in shipbuilding. A salesman in the Rostock region, northern Germany, first thought of presenting the domestic-designed product to shipyards. In his region, domestic construction was low at the time, while the shipbuilding industry was emerging. Yards like Volkswerft Stralsund and Aker Werft were at the time building several large container ships every year. The modular exhaust piping system could save them a lot on construction time and cost.

Since the early 1990s, the number of yards that embraced the modular lightweight exhaust piping has grown. Meyer Werft, building cruise ships, and over the last years also yards that build large yachts, have discovered the weight and sound benefits of the silent Metaloterm system. During recent years, Ontop has developed a lightweight silencer programme as a standard component in the Metaloterm exhaust system. The management decided to start specialised product development for the maritime industry, covering the whole routing from engine chimneythe terminal at the top of the exhaust. “Before we had this new silencer, the concept was not complete”, De Voogd reflects. “Yards had to install a large and heavy silencer at the engine, whereas the piping part was all very lightweight and innovative.” Recently, the Spark Arrester was developed to allow vessels that operate at oil production platforms to have the Metaloterm exhaust installed.

Is it running?

“Our concept has proven itself when we were doing sea trials aboard a large luxury yacht from a renowned Dutch yard”, De Voogd smiles. “Part of the sea trials is noise and vibration testing. At some point, the yard project manager alerted the engine room crew through the walkie-talkie: ‘you can start the generator now’. The engine room crew replied: ‘it is already running’. That is what we strive for: silence and no vibration. It is an important asset both on luxury yachts like on work boats, passenger vessels as well as transport vessels.”

Strategy now is to achieve long-term relations with yards. “We want our customers to come back”, De Voogd explains. “Embedding our exhaust systems in the supply chain of a yard and joining in innovative projects is our strategy for the next decade. With constantly tightening emission regulations and the need to save on fuel, we want to be part of the solution for yards. That could be in the Netherlands, but also in Japan with its advanced marine industry. Recently, we have established relations with Austal Ships of western Australia, a yard building fast catamaran ferries. We seem to have found the desired direction.”

Hans Buitelaar