Wärtsilä gains in Canadian LNG rush

The company, which has already provided propulsion (four W20DF engines) and gas handling for Canada’s only LNG-fuelled vessel to date, STQ’s ferry FA Gauthier, has orders for a total of 13 further gas-powered ships.

Including the ferry already in operation, the orders amount to 45 dual-fuel four-stroke engines and 14 LNG Pac gas handling systems, as well as four two-stroke engines from former Wärtsilä subsidiary WinGD.

Two ferries will be built for STQ at Davie Shipyard with the same LNG and diesel-electric configuration as the FA Gauthier. Two ferries for Vancouver-based operator Seaspan, to be built at Sedef in Turkey, will each be powered by two W34DF engines.

BC Ferries is having two Spirit class ferries repowered at Remontowa – where they will each be fitted with four eight-cylinder inline W34DF engines by 2019 – as well as building three new Salish class ferries at the same yard. The new vessels, the first of which begins sea trials next week will be powered by three W20DF engines.

Meanwhile Group Desgagnés has ordered four dual-fuel tankers to serve trades in the Great Lakes and Eastern Seaboard. They will feature WinGD’s 5RT-Flex 50 two-stroke engines as prime movers, with three auxiliary generators.

CLARIFICATION: The Desgagnés vessels above are not bulk carriers as written initially, nor will they be chartered to Algoma.