Saverys family-controlled CMB.TECH, WinGD and two Chinese maritime companies have reached a deal to back the first ammonia dual-fuel engines built in China, advancing the construction of the world’s first ammonia-fuelled capesize bulk carriers
Swiss engine designer WinGD inked a four-party agreement, underwriting CMB.TECH’s order of WinGD X72DF-A ammonia dual-fuel, two-stroke engines. CSSC Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding (QBS) and enginebuilder CSSC Engine Co (CSE) were the other signatories in the joint undertaking to power a series of 210,000-dwt bulk carriers to be delivered to Antwerp ship’s Bocimar division in 2025 and 2026.
Following confirmation of the engine order, the agreement advances the project between WinGD and CMB.TECH announced in January, to develop the 72-bore ammonia engine.
CMB.TECH “sees green ammonia as one of the big solutions to decarbonise long-distance shipping” the Belgian ship operator’s chief executive, Alexander Saverys said. “The gathering of expertise under this agreement will ensure that our first ammonia-fuelled vessels are built and powered in a safe and sustainable way, as well as helping to decarbonise our business and our customers’ logistics” he said.
WinGD chief executive Dominik Schneiter said “Having progressed the engine design and vessel integration concept rapidly with CMB.TECH over the past nine months, enlisting the mutual cooperation of the shipyard and enginebuilder is a critical next step. As well as safeguarding the successful entry into operation of these innovative engines, this collaboration will also accelerate the spread of ammonia capabilities across key stakeholder groups, placing the whole industry on surer footing as it explores a vital decarbonisation pathway.” WinGD’s X-DF-A engines operate using high-pressure fuel injection with a small portion of pilot fuel and will have performance and fuel efficiency comparable to the company’s diesel-fuelled X-Engines. No after-treatment is required for N2O emissions, while selective catalytic reduction is used to ensure IMO Tier III NOx compliance in both ammonia and diesel modes.
Safe operation and maintenance of ammonia-fuelled engines and vessels has been a key undertaking of the project to date. HAZID studies, followed by an approval in principle from Lloyd’s Register of the X-DF-A engine concept were pivotal to WinGD and CMB.TECH verifying that ammonia-fuelled engines built, commissioned and operated to the approved design have equivalent safety to conventionally fuelled engines.
’Diversification and decarbonisation’
The Saverys family, which holds a controlling interest in Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) as well as tanker company Euronav as well as its holdings in CMB.Tech, has repeatedly expressed its intent to explore a variety of fuel types in the quest to decarbonise its various fleets.
In late November, CMB.Tech and Belgian-Dutch maritime services provider Boeckmans revealed an agreement to build four hydrogen-powered, 5,000-dwt general cargo vessels. CMB.Tech is partnering with Dutch consultancy Handelskade on the design and employing the Dung Quat shipyard in Vietnam to build the vessels.
The quartet of vessels, due for delivery in 2025, will be deployed "on major sea routes, including northern Europe, the Mediterranean, North Africa and West Africa," CMB.Tech said.
The vessels will contain diesel-electric engines placed under the ship’s forward accommodation, with space in the stern for propulsion systems -- not just hydrogen but "other alternative low-carbon engines can be installed as well," as the company said. The space also will allow for storage of the alternative fuel sources.
"The ship’s primary design philosophy is to achieve lower emissions through hull shaping, innovative design and the application of the latest technologies. We succeeded in reducing emissions by 40% compared to traditional general cargo vessels in diesel mode. This can be reduced even further by implementing new sustainable propulsion systems and creating storage space for fuels such as hydrogen. The ship’s diesel-electric configuration simplifies the integration of new systems into the power grid," Boeckmans Director Pierre Durot said.
Alexander Saverys, who is now Euronav CEO in addition to CMB.Tech CEO, recently said in a quarterly update from Euronav that, with its completion of a carve-out of Euronav’s VLCCs in return for the shareholdings of rival John Fredriksen, "We are looking, to pivot the company further with a value-creating strategy to diversify the fleet,
decarbonisation of the fleet and optimisation of the existing fleet”.
For its part, John Fredriksen’s Frontline tanker vehicle, in its own quarterly earnings report, said that it expects the oil transport market to return to "a more normalised market where VLCCs take the lead on earnings".
"This amplifies our excitement as we prepare to take delivery of the 24 modern VLCCs from Euronav, more than doubling our exposure to this segment, increasing our overall tanker footprint by more than 30%," Frontline CEO Lars Barstad said.
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