Press Release: Hyundai’s shipbuilding division (HHI-SBD) has ordered 6 × MAN B&W G95ME-C10.5-LGIM dual-fuel main engines in connection with the construction of 6 × 17,000 teu container vessels for A.P. Moller – Maersk, the Danish integrated logistics company. Hyundai’s engine machinery division (HHI-EMD) will build the engines in Korea, which will be capable of running on green methanol.
Bjarne Foldager, Senior Vice President and Head of Two-Stroke Business, MAN Energy Solutions, said: “The adoption of methanol propulsion is gaining pace, behind which there are several drivers. Crucially, MAN B&W methanol engines are available and proven with the first engines having already entered service back in 2016. Additionally, as a fuel, methanol can be carbon-neutral when produced from renewable energy sources and bio-genic CO2. The production capacity of such green methanol is currently increasing significantly; it is also liquid at ambient conditions, which simplifies tank design and minimises costs. Finally, our methanol engine only require a fuel-supply pressure of just 13 bar and a number of manufacturers already offer such fuel-supply systems today.”
Thomas S. Hansen, Head of Promotion and Customer Support, MAN Energy Solutions, said: “We currently have a total order book for 78 ME-LGIM engines, of which 24 are firm orders for G95-variants. In addition, 19 of our 50-bore variants are already on the water and have accumulated more than 140,000 running hours on methanol alone. As a fuel, the future looks promising for methanol and we fully expect its uptake to encompass around 30% of all dual-fuel engine orders in just a few years from now.”
Projected fuel adoption within two-stroke dual-fuel engines. Today, LNG-fuelled engines make up the vast majority of dual-fuel engine contracting as represented in red in the bar graph above. Interrest in methanol is increasing and a steady uptake to around 30% of all dual-fuel engines contracted is expected by MAN Energy Solutions just a few years from now, as indicated in dark-blue. Towards the end of the decade, ammonia (green) is expected to pick up as a marine fuel.
Header image: The G95ME-LGIM Mk 10.5 methanol engine