Wärtsilä DF engines get gas boost

Wärtsilä has received a major order to supply twenty-four Wärtsilä 50DF dual-fuel engines to Samsung Heavy Industries of Korea. These engines will power a series of six 155,000 m3 dual-fuel-electric LNG carriers. Four of these ships were ordered by A.P. M?ller of Denmark, while Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (“K” Line) of Japan ordered the other two. The delivery of the first ship in this newbuilding series is scheduled for early 2008. Each ship will be equipped with three twelve-cylinder and one six-cylinder Wärtsilä 50DF dual-fuel engines, delivering a total power of 39.9MW. The delivery of these engines from Wärtsilä’s engine factory in Trieste, Italy, will commence in January 2007.

The dual-fuel-electric machinery concept for LNG carriers combines multiple dual-fuel generating sets with electric propulsion and offers a very significant improvement compared to the traditional steam turbine installation in terms of operating economy, exhaust gas emissions and redundancy. At the same time, it keeps aspects like safety, reliability and maintainability at an appropriate level.

Fifty-two Wärtsilä 50DF dual-fuel engines have so far been ordered for application in thirteen dual-fuel-electric LNG carriers.