Wärtsilä dual-fuel engines to power Shell's new LNG bunker vessel
A specialized LNG bunker vessel to be built at the STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. yard in South Korea on behalf of Shell will be powered by Wärtsilä DF dual-fuel engines.
The ship will be used to deliver gas to LNG-fuelled vessels in Northwest Europe.
The newbuild contract is in direct response to the increasing acceptance by the shipping industry of LNG as a marine fuel, according to company officials. The engine order was placed with Wärtsilä in December 2014.
Wärtsilä has been at the forefront of the trend towards LNG fuelled shipping. Its industry leading dual-fuel engine technology and gas supply and control systems have been largely responsible for the viability of gas as a fuel for ships.
The environmental and economic advantages that LNG has over conventional diesel fuels are seen as being crucial to the future development of the global shipping industry, according to company representatives.
The new Shell vessel will be based at the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and will load from the new break-bulk terminal and jetty to be constructed by the Gas Access to Europe (Gate) terminal.
It will also be seagoing and able, therefore, to bunker customers at other locations. It will be powered by three 8-cylinder Wärtsilä 20DF dual-fuel engines capable of operating on either gas or diesel fuels.
The engines are scheduled for delivery in spring 2016.
"This new specialized vessel is an important step towards LNG becoming the fuel of choice for shipping in Europe, and Wärtsilä is pleased and honoured to cooperate with Shell and STX in this project," said Aaron Bresnahan, vice president of sales at Wärtsilä Ship Power.
"LNG eases compliance with both the new and anticipated future IMO environmental regulations, and we are proud that our development of technologies throughout the gas chain is of increasing value to the marine sector," he added.
Wärtsilä's advanced dual-fuel technology was first launched in the early 1990s for use in land-based power plant applications. The first marine installation came a decade later.
The technology enables the engine to be operated on either natural gas, light fuel oil (LFO), or heavy fuel oil (HFO), and switching between fuels can take place seamlessly during operation, without loss of power or speed. This ensures safety and continuous installation operability.
Wärtsilä DF engines are designed to have the same output regardless of the fuel used.
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