Wärtsilä to LNG retrofit AG Ems’ RoPax ferry

Finnish technology group Wärtsilä will carry out a retrofitting project aimed at lessening the environmental footprint of a ferry operating in the Wadden Sea.

The Wadden Sea is a UNESCO World Heritage-listed area in the southeastern end of the North Sea. The area features high biological diversity and is important for breeding and migrating birds.

Wärtsilä said that the retrofit would enable the Münsterland, a RoPax ferry owned by German operator Ems, to utilize liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel. According to the Finnish company, the order with Wärtsilä was placed in July 2019.

The work will take place at the Koninklijke Niestern-Sander yard in the Netherlands. The yard has facilities to build a completely new aftship to accommodate the Wärtsilä LNGPac fuel storage, supply, and control system. This fitting of the new aftship is scheduled to begin in September 2020.

A similar retrofitting project was carried out in 2015 on the Münsterland’s sister ship, the Ostfriesland.

The vessel will be fitted with two Wärtsilä 20DF dual-fuel generating sets and a Wärtsilä LNGPac system. The scope of supply also includes Wärtsilä’s patented Cold Recovery system, which utilizes the latent heat of LNG in the ship’s air conditioning, thus reducing electricity consumption.

Delivery of the Wärtsilä equipment will begin in spring 2020, and completion of the retrofitting is anticipated during the first quarter of 2021.

In addition to the retrofitting of these two ferries, the owners have also earlier ordered via a subsidiary company, Cassen Eils, a full Wärtsilä dual-fuel package for LNG operation for the ferry Helgoland. The ship entered service in 2015.