Ammonia-fuelled, ocean-going ship makes waves
Swiss marine power company WinGD says it is the world’s first ocean-going ship that operates on ammonia fuel.
Belgian gas shipowner and infrastructure developer EXMAR has taken delivery of the ship. This follows successful trials of the ANTWERPEN, the 46,000m³ LPG/ammonia carrier.
The ammonia-fuelled engine is WinGD’s X52DF. The company says the X-DF is a two-stroke engine with high-pressure ammonia injection, supplemented by a low, targeted, pilot fuel dose of around 5% at full load.
The ship is a collaboration between WinGD, EXMAR, engine builder HD Hyundai Engine Machinery Division and shipyard HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd.
It is to be the first in a series of four newbuild ammonia dual-fuel midsize gas carriers for EXMAR, each to be named after a Belgian city.
The company says ammonia is a readily available zero-carbon fuel, with low sulphur and particulate emissions, making it a strong contender as a marine fuel.
According to WinGD, the recent sea trials of the ANTWERPEN in South Korea confirm that the engine delivers load handling, dynamic response and fuel efficiency on par with WinGD’s equivalent diesel-fuelled X-Engines in both ammonia and diesel operating modes.
It has 40 orders for the X-DF-A across multiple vessel segments, including gas and bulk carriers, tankers and container vessels.
