gas carriers
for delivery in the next two years. Eighteen such newbuilding contracts are currently without employment and may be forced into unsatisfactory spot business or risk cancellation. By contrast, ten FSRUs are now on order with others in the pipeline awaiting the outcome of successful charter and project negotiations. The popular size of around 160-170,000m3 capacity was shattered at the start of this year by the decision of Mitsui OSK to select DSME to construct the world’s largest FSRU offering 263,000m3 of capacity. Delivery is set for September 2016 and the ship will take up employment near Montevideo under operation for a GDF Suez/Marubeni joint venture. Within such a bullish market owners
have looked for niche capacity areas and it is noticeable how, over the last few months, China is building up its own LNG coastal fleet to serve industrial and domestic distribution demand. A year ago, China launched its coastal fleet plans with three 28,000- 30,000m3 Chinese designs divided equally between Cosco Dalian, Jiangnan Shipyard, and Ningbo Xinle.
This trio of builders hitherto had little or no experience of LNG construction thus presenting a new challenge and learning curve which may eventually attract export business. All will use Type C tank containment systems and incorporate dual- fuel diesel-electric propulsion. Options for more may be exercised.
The ordering trend was recently taken a stage further with a new order placed for one 14,000m3 LNG carrier to be built by Qidong Fengshun Ship Heavy Industry. Demand for this coastal size range will give a boost to Wärtsilä’s RT-flex50DF series where a five cylinder version has been specified for the new order. Low pressure, dual fuel technology was unveiled by Wärtsilä in November 2013 for two stroke engines and described in the business as a “game changer”.
Capital expenditure and operating expenditure offer significant advantages and the 50DF series is already compliant with Tier III emission legislation without resorting to any exhaust gas
15-20 per cent over comparable vessels today. It also offers owners a new choice of propulsion that will enable operation on 100 per cent gas at all loads, dramatically reducing operational costs.
The proud owner is Zhejiang based Huaxing Shipping Co, which is already involved in safe transportation of LNG. Delivery is
set will enhance for
August 2015. The two-stroke development from the DF family
the
popularity of dual-fuel application for which over 1,000 four-stroke units have been sold by Wärtsilä for land and marine applications. More orders for two-stroke 50DF models are expected as owners are presented with a new choice of cost savings against key rival MAN Diesel & Turbo.
The coastal transport concept was taken a stage further by Indonesia with the signing in principle of a contract with Daehan, South Korea,
for construction of ten 10,000m3
LNG carriers. South Korea dominates LNG construction but this is the first time coastal tonnage has been tackled. Daehan is more closely associated with large bulk carrier construction and this order represents a debut in the gas sector.
The Indonesian coastal gas fleet has been on the drawing board as a project for some years with the ten-vessel order valued at US$502 million. Construction will be shared by a consortium also including KG Cranes and GSH which, together with Daehan, are members of a manufacturing co-operative known as Daebul Industrial Complex. The owner/operator is Bimantura and the project has been devised to replace expensive oil with gas for industrial and domestic use. Wärtsilä will certainly have its eye on
provision of the slow speed RT-flex50DF engine series. Although the pace is still slow; because of infrastructure restrictions the market is now beginning
to
full fruition but so far a strict time schedule for the orders has been met.
The prototype was confirmed in January this year by Sovcomflot at an estimated US$316 million and DSME has had the other 15 berths reserved for some months. The remaining vessels will be taken by Teekay LNG (6), Mitsui OSK (4) and an additional five units by Sovcomflot. Charters with rolling options for up to 26 years of employment come with the orders but the vessels’ huge cost may require a longer period to clear financial subjects. On current projects the contract agreements were due to be finalised in April, as this issue went to press, and the charters in May. Rasheed was the last Q-max 267,335m3 LNG carrier delivered into the Nakilat fleet in 2010 and has now been officially nominated as the first LNG carrier to be converted from twin 7S70ME-C propulsion units to twin electronically controlled gas injection ME-GI engines enabling burning of LNG as an alternative fuel choice. Collaboration between MAN Diesel & Turbo and the Nakilat-Keppel Offshore & Marine (N-KOM) is already underway in preparation for the conversion work. This will take place in April 2015 when special survey becomes due.
Others will be watching this pilot project especially in respect of operational savings but it
see
significant developments for the use of LNG in maritime transport.
cleaning systems. With
costs paramount for owners, studies reveal that the new engine may be applied to all vessel types and, in the case of the prototype order, will yield expenditure savings of
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) signed a letter of intent with three owners for the 15 remaining 170,000m3 icebreaking LNG carriers designed for the Yamal LNG project. The planned start up is in 2017 using the Northern Sea Route (NSR) when navigable to Dalian and beyond. Some question whether the project will reach
2015 2016
is unlikely to start a trend; Nakilat has made it clear this is a one-off project for the time being. The key to future retrofitting lies with the charterer who will pay for fuel consumption but Nakilat will closely evaluate results soon after redelivery and has not ruled out similar treatment on other fleet members depending on charterer acceptance. Understandably both engine builder and shipowner are keeping cards close to their chests but best estimates put the cost of conversion at between US$15-20 million. The 14-vessel Nakilat Q-Max fleet was ordered before the main financial crash and thus specified low speed diesel engines. Since then, a revolution in gas engines has occurred, dramatically cutting operating costs. These savings must be weighed against the high cost of the conversion however. The whole Q-Ship fleet numbers 45 vessels so, if retrofitting is a success, lucrative business beckons for MAN Diesel & Turbo. MP
LNG CARRIERS ON ORDER BY COUNTRY OF SHIPBUILDER 2014
Expected delivery year China Japan
Korea (South) Total
28 I Marine Propulsion I April/May 2014
no 1 2
m3
170,000 298,400
35 5,647,560 38 6,115,960
no 13 3
m3
592,500 473,000
28 4,608,000 44 5,673,500
no 6 5
m3
857,000 803,200
23 3,996,200 34 5,656,400
no 5 4
2017 m3
809,000 678,000
11 1,849,400 20 3,336,400
no 25 14 97
136 Total m3
2,428,500 2,252,600 16,101,160 20,782,260
www.mpropulsion.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108