MAN engines for LNG carriers

The new order covers five 8L51/60DF engines, all of which are IMO Tier II compliant in diesel mode and will have lower exhaust gas emissions in gas mode than IMO Tier III requires. Fuel sharing mode will be applied to each unit.

Erwin Boijmans, sales manager, marine medium speed business unit, MAN Diesel and Turbo, said: “This order is yet another success for the 51/60DF’s fuel sharing capability, a special feature and one of the reasons we have especially focused on LNG carrier applications with the 51/60DF unit.”

Each newbuild will have a payload of 174,000m³ and will be dual fuel diesel electrical (DFDE) driven. MAN says this will provide the consortium with optimum redundancy and that the vessels will be the first large LNG carriers with a DFDE configuration built in China.

Fuel Sharing Mode (FSM) describes the operation of a duel fuel engine with a mixture of fuel gas (NG, NBOG) and fuel oil (MGO, MDO or HFO) at a certain ratio.

MAN says adopting FSM provides a number of benefits, including full load with low quantity of fuel gas (LHV, NM), full load with low quantity of fuel gas, full load with high ambient air temperature and retrofit DF light (gas mode without pilot fuel system).

The new vessels will be constructed at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard located in Shanghai. When delivered, they will load LNG in Gladstone, Australia, for a number of Chinese import terminals including Quindao, Beihai, Tianjin, Lianyungang and Wenzhou.

The vessels are expected to be delivered by the end of 2017.