Waterfront Shipping renews fleet with eight methanol dual-fuel vessels

Waterfront Shipping (WFS) is adding eight methanol dual-fuel tankers to its fleet through partnerships with Marinvest/Skagerack Invest (Marinvest), Nippon Yusen Kaisha, Meiji Shipping Co, KSS Line Ltd and Mitsui OSK Lines, Ltd.

These vessels will add to WFS’s existing fleet of 11 methanol-fuelled ships, which have been recognised by the marine industry for their use of clean-burning methanol as a lower emissions fuel.

Having surpassed more than 90,000 combined operating hours, the vessels have proven methanol as a viable marine fuel solution, are compliant with the most stringent emissions regulations without the need for exhaust gas after-treatment and meet IMO Tier III NOx emissions standards. As a marine fuel, methanol also reduces in-sector CO₂ emissions by up to 15% when compared to conventional marine fuels.

“We are proud that approximately 60% of our 30-ship fleet will be powered by lower emissions, methanol-fuel technology upon delivery of this latest order,” said Waterfront Shipping Ltd president Paul Hexter. “Having operated methanol-fuelled vessels for over four years now, we know that methanol is a practical, cost-competitive and safe marine fuel for the commercial shipping industry in the post-IMO 2020 marketplace. We are excited to be expanding our methanol-fuelled fleet with these new vessels that benefit from the latest technological advances to optimise engine efficiency and performance.”

The eight, 49,999-dwt vessels will be built in South Korea at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and delivered to WFS between 2021 and 2023. Designed with the MAN second-generation B&W ME-LGIM two-stroke dual-fuel engines, the vessels can run on methanol or traditional marine fuels allowing for fuel flexibility. In addition, methanol can be produced from renewable sources offering a pathway to meet IMO’s decarbonisation goals without further investment or compatibility issues with the current dual-fuel engine technology.

Marinvest chairman Patrik Mossberg added, “Our first two methanol-powered ships were delivered in 2016, with an additional two delivered in 2019. We have had exceptional performance from the vessels during their time in operation – both in reliability and efficiency when running on methanol. As shipowners, it is important that we, at Marinvest, spread awareness across the industry of the success of methanol as a simple to adopt, cost-competitive, future-proofed marine fuel.”

IMO has approved methanol as a safe ship fuel. The two Marinvest vessels were the subject of a Tanker Shipping & Trade newbuilding description feature.

Methanol is one of the world’s most widely traded chemicals and is readily available at almost 90 of the top 100 ports worldwide. As a liquid fuel, established bunkering infrastructure for traditional marine fuels can easily be converted to use methanol. According to the IMO, “methanol is estimated as the fourth most significant marine fuel used and is growing.” Waterfront Shipping’s addition of new methanol-fuelled vessels will support this growing global demand.

“MAN developed the ME-LGI engine concept in response to interest from the shipping world to operate on alternatives to heavy fuel oil,” said MAN Energy Solutions head of two-stroke promotion & customer support Thomas S Hansen, “The ME-LGIM dual-fuel engine operates on methanol, heavy fuel oil (HFO), marine diesel oil (MDO) or marine gas oil (MGO). When operating on methanol, the engine uses HFO, MDO or MGO as a pilot fuel, significantly reducing emissions of NOx , SOx, CO₂ and PM. Any operational switch between methanol and other fuels is seamless.”

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