New jobs boost for the town

Krystallon is a partnership between Littlehampton's Kittiwake Developments and British Petroleum (BP), which has just ploughed an extra 2.4 million into the company.

It is spearheading new exhaust scrubbing technologies which dramatically reduce the harmful emissions from marine engines, which pollute the environment and are, according to the EU, the major cause of acid rain in Europe.

"The exhaust emissions from a large ship are equivalent to half a million lorries all running their engines at once," said Chris Leigh-Jones, Kittiwake's managing director.

"Take a look across any commercial harbour and you can see the effect this can have on the environment."

Using seawater to remove more than 95 per cent of the harmful sulphur and other impurities from the ship's exhaust, the Krystallon scrubber then passes the water through a series of purifying filters before being returned overboard.

The residue of sulphurous sludge, is stored in tanks onboard the ship and disposed of safely when it reaches port.

With an estimated 30-40 kilos of impurities removed from each engine's emissions a day and with some ships have eight engines or more, the positive environmental impact of this technology is huge.

Mr Leigh-Jones said: "The EU reckon that by 2020 half of the acid rain falling on Europe will come from ships.

"Our target is to fit 20-30 ships with the exhaust scrubbers each year at a cost of around 1.5 million per ship. So we are looking at a turnover of 30 million by the end of 2008."

The first exhaust scrubber was fitted to the P&O ferry Pride of Kent in December and tests show that as well as eliminating more than 95 per cent of the harmful emissions, the technology also meets new EU exhaust emission regulations that come into force in August.

This means that ships fitted with the exhaust scrubber can continue to use heavy fuel oil rather than more expensive low-sulphur fuels in order to meet the new emissions targets.

Voted regional business of the year last November by the Arun Business Partnership, Kittiwake Developments was formed in 1992 in a garden shed and currently employs 55 people at its Lineside Industrial Estate headquarters.

The firm supplies 70 per cent of the world's shipping with testing, sampling and filtration systems and also supplies urine sampling kits to test athletes at the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and track and field events in the UK.

Krystallon currently employs four staff, with the number rising to around 30 over the next two years.

The majority of these posts will require qualifications in mechanical design, project management and marine engineering.

Richard McMann, head of economic and cultural development at Arun District Council, played a key role in persuading BP to locate the Krystallon development plant in Littlehampton, partially because of the specialist marine and engineering skills that are available in the town.

He said: "I think the news is absolutely fantastic. It's a hidden secret of this area that there are companies here which are world-leaders in their fields and people aren't aware of them.

"It's great for the business and also good for young people in the area to see that there are high-quality companies on their doorstep offering quality jobs."