Wärtsilä, the marine industry’s leading solutions and
services provider, has been awarded an important retrofitting contract
by the German shipyard, BVT – Brenn – und Verformungstechnik Bremen
GmbH. The project entails converting the m/v Ostfriesland, a car and
passenger ferry owned by Aktien-Gesellschaft “EMS“, so that it can
utilise liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel.The vessel sails between Emden and Borkum Island on the Lower Saxon
Wadden Sea National Park, an ecologically sensitive UNESCO World
Heritage listed area in the southeastern part of the North Sea, and the
retrofit will significantly reduce the ship’s environmental impact.The vessel will be fitted with two 6-cylinder Wärtsilä 20DF dual-fuel generating sets and a Wärtsilä LNGPac. The dual-fuel engines will run
primarily on LNG as the main fuel, but have the capacity to switch to
conventional liquid fuels if necessary. The LNGPac, innovated and
developed by Wärtsilä, comprises onboard liquid natural gas bunkering,
storage tanks, and handling equipment with related safety and automation systems. The scope of supply also includes Wärtsilä’s patented Cold
Recovery System, which utilises the latent heat of LNG in air
conditioning systems, thus reducing the amount of electricity consumed
in cooling compressors. Significant operational savings and an increase
in overall vessel efficiency are the result.The Wärtsilä contract was signed in April 2013. The retrofitting will be carried out during the second quarter of 2014 and is expected to be
completed in about seven weeks. “It is of the utmost importance for us to operate the
‘Ostfriesland’ in the most ecologically friendly manner possible, with
low exhaust emissions, perfect manoeuvrability, and high reliability.
Thanks to Wärtsilä’s dual-fuel technology with its built-in redundancy,
the vessel will be able to operate without restrictions in the SECA and
NECA sulphur and nitrogen controlled areas. It was very important for us to select a reliable and experienced partner, especially as we will
begin operating gas-electric driven passenger ferries,” says Dr. Bernhard Brons, Member of the Board of AG “EMS“.“The owners of this vessel, AG “EMS”, take environmental issues
very seriously and since this vessel is operating within the
ecologically sensitive Wadden Sea, emissions need to be minimised. Our
dual-fuel engine technology makes this possible through the use of LNG
as fuel. The high efficiency of this technology also lowers fuel
consumption and offers extremely good reliability, both of which are
important to any ferry operator,” says Mr Aaron Bresnahan, Vice President Sales, Wärtsilä Ship Power.
SHIPBUILDING
18 July 2013 - 20:50
Wärtsilä Retrofits German Ferry with Dual-Fuel Engines
Wärtsilä, the marine industry’s leading solutions and services provider, has been awarded an important retrofitting contract by the German shipyard.
SHIPBUILDING
18 July 2013 - 20:50
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