First mega-container ship to be converted to LNG propulsion
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SHIPBUILDING & EQUIPMENT REPAIR, CONVERSION & RETROFIT
First mega-container ship to be
converted to LNG propulsion
ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE With the world’s first conversion of a large container ship to an LNG
propulsion system, Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd has launched a pilot project that may pave the way for other similar
conversions across the shipping industry. The complex project on the 15,000-TEU ship Sajir is scheduled to begin
in mid-2020 and is expected to cost about USD 30 million.
H
apag-Lloyd placed an of the project, engineers from able operation and service per- manufacturer of LNG fuel gas
order with the Hudong- Hapag-Lloyd and its partners in formance can be guaranteed at systems for shipping, will install
Zhonghua Shipbuild- the project have visited the ship all times. a complete gas system on board
ing Group to convert the Sajir, to carry out measurements and “With the conversion of the the 368m-long vessel. It will
a 15,000 TEU container ship, draw up plans. The conversion Sajir, we are the first liner ship- supply both the main engine
to LNG operation at the be- of the large container ship in- ping company worldwide to and the auxiliary engines with
ginning of 2019. The ship is volves various new challenges. convert a container ship of this gas. In addition, MAN Energy
deployed on the route from Whereas conventional fuel has size. We want to show that it Solutions will install a 300-bar
Asia to Northern Europe via to be heated, LNG is available works to convert such a ship to high-pressure pump vapouriser
the Suez Canal. The pilot pro- in liquid form in the fuel tank at LNG economically,” said Rich- system (PVU).
ject envisages the conversion minus 162°C and a pressure of ard von Berlepsch, managing Klaus Rasmussen, head of
of an existing MAN B&W 3.0 bar and has to be provided director Fleet Management at Sales, Conversion Projects and
9S90ME-C engine, which runs for combustion in the engines Hapag-Lloyd. “This is a unique PVU at MAN PrimeServ in
on heavy fuel oil (HFO), to a at a temperature of around pilot project from which we Copenhagen, explained: “By
MAN B&W ME-GI dual-fuel 35°C and a pressure of 350 bar. hope to learn for the future and converting an HFO engine to
engine powered by liquefied The storage on board, the lay- pave the way for converting fur- LNG, MAN B&W two-stroke
natural gas (LNG). ing of the piping system and the ther ships of this size.” engines can achieve consider-
Whenever the Sajir has processing of the LNG must be MAN Cryo, a subsidiary able emission savings. The use
been in Hamburg since the start integrated so that the ship’s reli- of MAN Energy Solutions and of LNG in shipping can reduce
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Source: Hapag-Lloyd
With 237 modern ships and a transport volume of 11.9 million TEU per year, Hapag-Lloyd is one of the world’s leading container lines. Pictured is
the Sajir with its MAN B&W 9S90ME-C main engine due to be converted into a MAN B&W ME-GI dual-fuel unit operating mainly on LNG.
CO2 emissions by 15 to 20% HuaRun DaDong Dockyard, LNG-ready delivered in 2014. While other
and sulphur dioxide and par- a subsidiary of the Hudong In its merger with United Arab shipping companies have al-
ticulate emissions by over 90%.” Group, in China. On comple- Shipping Company (UASC) ready ordered newbuildings
The conversion work is tion, the Sajir will operate pri- almost three years ago, Hapag- with LNG propulsion, Hapag-
scheduled to begin in June, marily on LNG, but will be able Lloyd took over 17 newbuild- Lloyd is the first carrier to con-
when the five-year-old ship will to burn low-sulphur fuel as a ings classified as “LNG-ready”, vert an existing large container
spend around 105 days at the back-up. including the Sajir, which was ship to LNG operation.
LNG-ready means that
the structural requirements
for the LNG tank, the spatial
arrangements for the location
of the additional units includ-
ing piping, fuel storage and the
conversion of the engines were
taken into account at the new-
building design stage.
In the case of the Sajir,
space for tanks and piping was
incorporated into the original
ship’s plans in order to enable
a later conversion to LNG. In
addition, the thickness of the
steel structure and the frames
was designed to support a fu-
ture LNG fuel tank. This will
save time and money during
the upcoming conversion.
Rasmussen added: “LNG-
ready means that the engine is
already partially prepared for
LNG operation. The conver-
Tank connection area and fuel pressure regulator above the membrane tank with two bunker stations sion effort to LNG is reduced
on the upper deck Source: MAN Energy Solutions accordingly. However, con- >
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SHIPBUILDING & EQUIPMENT REPAIR, CONVERSION & RETROFIT
Side view of the Sajir with tank arrangement Source: MAN Energy Solutions
verting an LNG-ready ship to approximately 290 TEU. This sible for the design and and the operating room
LNG operation is still a major number of container slots will conversion of main and for fuel preparation;
conversion project.” be lost for transport. In order auxiliary engines; >> laying of bunker, gas and
to keep the shipyard time as >> MAN Cryo – the fuel ventilation lines.
The project short as possible, the tank will gas specialist division of
As early as May 2019, Captain be completely manufactured MAN Energy Solutions, Parameters of the fuel
Michael Kowitz and his crew before it reaches the shipyard. responsible for the design gas supply system
boarded the Sajir to familiarise The components for the fuel of the fuel gas supply sys- Based on an evaluation of the
themselves with the ship. He gas supply system as well as tem; ship, a GTT membrane tank
will continue to operate the principal parts for conversion >> GTT – designer of the with a volume of 6,500m3 at
ship after the conversion. “For of the engines and other aspects membrane tank; a design pressure of 0.7 bar
me, it is an exciting challenge of the project will be provided >> Alfa Laval – boiler sup- and an evaporation rate of
to be part of this pilot project. ready for installation as far as is plier; 390 kg/h was selected. Ac-
I am looking forward to sharing possible. Then, with the help of >> Shipyard – ship conver- cordingly, the gas flow rate was
my experience and helping to a floating crane, the tank weigh- sion, prefabrication and set at 7,100 kg/h for the main
shape the project,” Kowitz said. ing approximately 1,300 tonnes installation of the fuel gas engine and 2,000 kg/h for the
When converting the ship will be placed in the prepared supply system. auxiliaries.
to LNG operation, there are a hold. The short distance be- The boiler is supplied with
number of challenges to over- tween the tank, the gas supply First steps in the gas combustion unit function-
come: “The greatest difficul- system and the engine room conversion ality for handling excess ex-
ties in conversions come with will be bridged by the shortest Hapag-Lloyd is cooperating haust gas and the tank connec-
the placement of fuel tanks and possible pipelines. closely with all project par- tion area is positioned on the
the fuel gas supply system on ticipants in the refitting of the tank dome. It includes all tank
board. It starts with the LNG Project consortium Sajir. An initial comprehensive safety valves and instruments.
being cooled to minus 162°C. The conversion contract was study was carried out to identi- The fuel preparation system
As a result, the tank must be very concluded with the Huadong- fy the optimal retrofitting plan is positioned next to the tank
well insulated,” said Rasmussen. Zhonghua Shipbuilding Co, and timetable by Technolog. combustion unit and includes
Since the specific calorific value Ltd shipyard in China as main These measures include: the LNG vapourisation system,
of LNG is about 40 to 45% low- contractor. >> determination of the vol- boil-off gas compressors and a
er than that of heavy fuel oil, the The project relies on the full ume of the new fuel tank gas valve drive.
tank also requires a larger vol- involvement of a consortium of of the Sajir, based on pow- Port and starboard bunker
ume. During conversion, it must companies including: er requirements and ex- stations with a bunker capacity
fit into the existing ship struc- >> Technolog – main project pected fuel consumption; of 1,400m3/h will be installed.
ture – an important step that re- coordinator and respon- >> definition of the tank type
quires precise planning. sible for the design of the and location; Engine comparison
The work includes the in- ship conversion; >> planning of the bunker The ME-GI (gas injection) en-
stallation of a gas tank system >> MAN PrimeServ – the scenario; gine from MAN Energy Solu-
into an existing cargo hold. The after-sales brand of MAN >> selection of locations for tions is used on LNG tankers,
tank has a volume equivalent to Energy Solutions, respon- the tank connection area container ships, vehicle carriers
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von Berlepsch. While the LNG Sajir will be to use as much ex-
trade is expanding, gas is still haust steam gas as possible.
not a global commodity. Prices Although larger quantities
in the United States and in Asia of gas in a bigger fuel tank could
have so far been completely dif- have meant that a second bun-
ferent. “As soon as large tankers ker stop was unnecessary, this
are put into service, ship op- would have led to an even great-
erators will be free to decide er loss of container space. For
where to refuel, and prices will this reason, Hapag-Lloyd de-
converge,” said von Berlepsch. cided on the projected tank size.
The gas in the tank must “LNG-operated ships must be
always be kept at the required treated completely differently,”
temperature and pressure, even von Berlepsch said. That is why
when the ship is at anchor for Hapag-Lloyd’s crews have been
a long period of time. Due to undergoing intensive training in
the lower gas consumption advance. These include training
when the main engine is at a on LNG ships to get to know the
standstill, there is a risk of an new fuel in everyday life.
Bunker station in a 40-foot container Source: MAN Energy Solutions unacceptable pressure increase After completion of the
due to exhaust gas in the tank, conversion work, the Sajir will
which is prevented by the op- undergo sea trials during the
and bulk cargo vessels, amongst the flow of hydraulic oil to the eration of the auxiliary machin- fourth quarter of 2020 followed
others. The engine offers envi- pump. This ensures fast and pre- ery and the boiler. Whereas on by a test voyage. The ship will
ronmentally friendly and highly cise control of the LNG supply a conventional vessel, the focus then return to service between
efficient two-stroke technology, to the engine. Separate control is on minimising fuel consump- Asia and Europe and is expected
whereby greenhouse gas emis- of each pump head provides full tion while the ship is not at sea, to make its debut in Hamburg at
sions caused by methane slip redundancy. the priority on the converted the end of 2020.
can be significantly reduced. As part of the Sajir retro-
The diesel principle is de- fit, most of the combustion
signed to ensure high opera- chamber and gas injection
tional stability and efficiency, components will be replaced.
even during load and fuel
changes. In particular, the sta-
The pilot oil system required
for gas operation will also be CAT® REPAIR OPTIONS.
ble change from liquid fuel to
gas without fuel loss is an im-
completely rebuilt. The control
system for the ME-GI engine MORE CHOICE TO KEEP
portant feature of this engine is more complex and requires
concept. new instrumentation. YOUR BUSINESS
The converted ME-GI
main engine will have a cylin-
der head equipped with two
Refuelling concept
and challenges in
MOVING.
valves for gas injection and two ship operation • More hours
conventional valves for the pilot The ship will have to bunker
oil. The two engine types – the twice per round trip: once in • Higher productivity
original ME-C engine and the Asia, once in Europe. This • Lower cost
converted ME-GI engine – are poses significant challenges for
essentially identical and have bunker planning. With regard
similar efficiency, power output to Europe, the supply of LNG
and main dimensions. How- is not homogeneous. Coun-
ever, compared with the ME-C tries including France, Lithu-
engine, the ME-GI engine has ania, the Netherlands, Poland
a modified exhaust system and and the UK already operate
a modified cylinder head with terminals, but Germany’s facil-
additional gas supply lines and ity is still at the planning stage. Contact us directly.
gas control equipment. In addition to the ports of call, Phone +49 40 853151-0
The ME-GI engine’s high- the volume of LNG taken dur- zeppelin-powersystems.com
pressure PVU ensures that the ing bunker deliveries is also a
LNG fuel is brought to the cor- challenge.
rect pressure and temperature “With a tank as large as
prior to vapourisation. The pres- ours, you can’t just drive by in
sure is regulated by controlling a tanker truck to fill it,” said
Ship&Offshore | 2020 | Nº 3 13
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