Wartsila to Supply Dual-Fuel Engines for Icebreaking LNG Carriers

On Wednesday, Wärtsilä announced that five new Arc 7 design ice-class LNG carriers being built at the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) yard in South Korea will be powered by a total of 30 Wärtsilä 50DF dual-fuel engines. The vessels will operate in arctic conditions to serve the Yamal LNG project in Northern Russia. The order was placed in January with Wärtsilä’s joint venture company, Wärtsilä Hyundai Engine Co. (WHEC) who will also build the engines in South Korea.

Each of the LNG carriers will be fitted with four 12-cylinder Wärtsilä 50DF engines and two 9-cylinder Wärtsilä 50DF engines. The engines will primarily use LNG as fuel, but are also capable of running on conventional marine diesel fuels. When operating in gas mode, the nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions are at least 85 percent below those specified in the current IMO regulations, and CO2 emissions are some 25 percent less than those of a conventional marine engine running on diesel fuel. Additionally, the sulphur oxide (SOx) and particle emissions are negligible at almost zero percent.

Altogether, Wärtsilä has been contracted within the past twelve months to supply 90 dual-fuel engines to fifteen of these Arc 7 ice-class LNG carriers for the Yamal project. Yamal LNG is a Russian project, which by the end of 2017 is expected to produce 16.5 million tons of LNG per year for shipment to European, Asian and South American customers.