German shipping company Wessels Reederei has signed a letter of intent with compatriot engine manufacturer MAN Diesel & Turbo to convert three of its ships to dual-fuel gas operation.
The document was inked at the Europort 2017 exhibition of maritime technology in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The three ships are sisters to the Wes Amelie , a 1,036 TEU feeder containership with a MAN 8L48/60B main engine that was retrofitted to a multi-fuel, four-stroke MAN 51/60DF unit earlier in 2017.
The retrofit enables dual-fuel operation and is the first such conversion of its type the world has ever seen.
“The Wes Amelie project was really a pioneering moment in the European container-feeder market and shows clearly that existing MAN engines can be converted to LNG operation with a tremendous effect on exhaust emissions and the environment,” Stefan Eefting, Senior Vice President, MAN Diesel & Turbo and Head of MAN PrimeServ Diesel in Augsburg , said.
“One of the key reasons the Wes Amelie was selected for conversion was its ‘multiplier effect’, that is, its many sister ships that would facilitate follow-up projects at reduced costs owing to the experiences gained from the first project. I believe the signing of this letter of intent validates our approach and points a realistic way towards decarbonisation and a climate-neutral shipping industry by 2050,” Eefting added.
Wes Amelie has 23 sister ships, 16 of them structurally identical, which would allow follow-up projects to be implemented, according to MAN.