Wessels Reederei Takes the Lead on LNG Conversions
“Our Wes Amelie is now the worldwide first retrofit of a container vessel from heavy fuel to natural gas,” said Gerd Wessels in the Maritime Reporter article. Photo: PPM News Service Maritim
Photo: MAN D&T
Cut No. 7 Wes Amelie is now driven by a 7,800 kW MAN 8L51/60DF main engine. Photo: PPM News Service Maritim
The move toward LNG as fuel is gaining momentum quickly, driven not only by newbuild installations but now by companies signing on to convert existing ships to the environmentally friendly solution. Germany's Wessels Reederei -- which was the first company in the world to convert a containership to LNG fuel, signed a letter of intent with MAN Diesel & Turbo regarding the conversion of three of its fleet to dual-fuel gas operation.
The three ships are sisters to the Wes Amelie, a 1,036-teu feeder container ship with an MAN 8L48/60B main engine that was retrofitted to a multi-fuel, four-stroke MAN 51/60DF unit earlier in 2017. The story of Wes Amelia and the company's owner Gerd Wessels is featured in the November 2017 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News, the world's largest circulation b2b magazine covering the global maritime community.
“Our Wes Amelie is now the worldwide first retrofit of a container vessel from heavy fuel to natural gas,” said Gerd Wessels in the Maritime Reporter article.
“The Wes Amelie project was really a pioneering moment in the European container-feeder market and shows clearly that existing MAN engines can be converted to LNG operation with a tremendous effect on exhaust emissions and the environment,” said Stefan Eefting, SVp, MAN Diesel & Turbo and Head of MAN PrimeServ Diesel in Augsburg.
The leading engine maker reports that the dual-fuel conversion has enabled the Wes Amelie to significantly reduce its SOx emissions by >99%, NOx by approximately 90%, and CO2 by up to 20%, and the vessel now meets both the Tier II and Tier III emission requirements set by the IMO.
