Brodosplit Starts Building Four New LNG-Fuelled Boxships

Croatian shipbuilder Brodosplit held a steel cutting ceremony for four 2,000 TEU containerships at their shipyard in Split today, November 12.

The ship’s are being built for Brodosplit’s own fleet, to be operated by Brodosplit Navigation, under the company’s restructuring program.

The 24,000 DWT vessels will be over 184 meters long and 27.5 meters wide. The ships will be classed by DNV GL and use liquefied natural gas (LNG) as marine fuel.

The boxships will feature 2-stroke, dual-fuel engines, that have higher efficiency (lower energy) and work at lower rpm (low speed engines), resulting in lower maintenance costs and longer life span.

The engines will be made by Brodosplit’s diesel engine factory, under the license of MAN, as well as the special tanks for LNG fuel.

Brodosplit CEO, Tomislav Debeljak, said that the vessels would enable Brodosplit to enter a niche shipbuilding market “that will enable sustainable business operation for Split Shipyard, bigger engagement of capacities and acquisition of references for building of ships that will be in higher demand in near future.”

Brodosplit expects that these LNG-powered vessels will be more attractive in the global shipping market due to new national and international regulations being gradually introduced in the shipping industry.