Methanol-ready engines for new cruise ship

Wärtsilä is converting two 46F engines to run on methanol, the first ever such conversion for this type of engine. They will also be capable of using two other conventional fuel types.

“This will be the second methanol-fuelled engine conversion that we have undertaken, and the first with the Wärtsilä 46F engine,” said Håkan Agnevall, president and chief executive of Wärtsilä.

This latest innovation will help Celebrity Cruises, a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group, achieve its vision for net zero emissions by 2050. This latest in the Edge Series – the fifth – is being built by the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard and is scheduled for delivery in 2025.

“With the launch of our Edge Series of ships in 2018, we set ambitious sustainability goals to make these ships the most energy efficient large vessels at sea,” said Celebrity Cruises president and chief executive Lisa Lutoff-Perlo.

“We have continued to develop new technologies and achieve breakthroughs with each subsequent ship,” she said.

The full Wärtsilä scope includes two 8-cylinder Wärtsilä 46F engines capable of operating with methanol as fuel, two 12-cylinder Wärtsilä 46F engines and one Wärtsilä 32 engine.