MAN Energy Solutions on Wednesday (6 March) signed a contract for the conversion of a 15,000 TEU container vessel to dual-fuel operation.
The container vessel MV Sajir is owned by Hapag-Lloyd and normally serves a route from Asia to northern Europe via the Suez canal.
The pilot project will entail the conversion of an existing, HFO-burning MAN B&W 9S90ME-C engine to a dual-fuel MAN B&W ME-GI (-Gas Injection) prime mover capable of running on HFO and LNG.
The retrofit will be done at the Chinese Hudong/HRDD shipyard, specialised in ship repair and conversion.
“We are seeing great interest in this project from the industry as a whole. This is an excellent showcase for the conversion of a mega-container vessel to LNG and the potential benefits for the market is huge,” said Wayne Jones OBE, Chief Sales Officer and Member of the Executive Board, MAN Energy Solutions.
“With this announcement, MAN Energy Solutions is once again at the forefront of technology with our ability to execute LNG conversions for both four-stroke and two-stroke engines.”
The Hapag-Lloyd pilot project is scheduled to take place in 2020 when the five-year old vessel will spend 90 days in dock. The DNV-GL approved gas-storage system will occupy an area equivalent to 350 containers, including the pipework between storage and engine.
“By converting the ‘Sajir’, we will be the first shipping company to retrofit a container ship of this size to LNG propulsion”, said Richard von Berlepsch, Managing Director Fleet Management at Hapag-Lloyd.
“With this unprecedented pilot, we hope to learn for the future and to pave the way for large ships to be retrofitted to use this alternative fuel.”
Related: Hapag-Lloyd first in world to convert large container ship to LNG
Photo credit: MAN Energy Solutions
Published: 7 March, 2019
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