First dual-fuel containership conversion announced
Pictured at the signing at Europort were (front, left to right) Dr Thomas Spindler (head of Upgrades & Retrofits, MAN PrimeServ Four-Stroke) and Christian Hoepfner (Wessels Reederei GM); (back, left to right) Marcel Lodder (project engineer, Upgrade & Retrofit, MAN PrimeServ), Stefan Eefting (vice president, MAN PrimeServ), Rainer Runde (project manager, Wessels Reederei), and Gerd Wessels (managing partner – Wessels Reederei)
The vessel will be the first of its kind worldwide to be converted to an LNG-capable propulsion system, MAN said.
Wes Amelie is a modern feeder vessel that was launched in 2011 and operates in the North and Baltic Seas. When selecting a suitable vessel for conversion, special attention was paid to the scalability of the engineering services and development costs in order to reduce costs for follow-up projects. Wes Amelie has 23 sister ships, 16 of them structurally identical, which would allow follow-up projects to be easily implemented, MAN said.
By running on LNG, the ship will reduce emissions of sulphur oxide by over 99%, nitrogen oxide by approximately 90% and carbon dioxide by up to 20%.
Dr Thomas Spindler, head of Upgrades & Retrofits at MAN PrimeServ Four-Stroke – MAN Diesel & Turbo, said: “We are very excited about the signing of this contract and see its potential for broader adoption within the maritime sector as significant.”
Due to the long delivery time of LNG tanks, the engine retrofit will commence in the fourth quarter of 2016. Full operational usage of LNG as fuel is planned for early December 2016.
