To facilitate operation in the American ECA zone, TOTE converts its ConRo vessels
»North Star« and »Midnight Sun« to dual-fuel operation together with MAN
TOTE Maritime Alaska, a daughter company of American marine-transportation group TOTE, recently awarded MAN PrimeServ, MAN Diesel & Turbo’s after[ds_preview]-sales division, with the contract. The RoRo ships are currently both powered by four MAN B&W 9L 58/64 engines and will be retrofitted to MAN 58/64 retrofit units. The contract covers the design, development and testing of a first-of-its-kind dual-fuel kit, which will serve as foundation for the largest LNG conversion in North America.
The ABS-classed Orca-class vessels feature twin-screw diesel-electric propulsion with a total capacity of 52.2 MW each. Besides the four main engines they have two MAN B&W 9L 27/38 engines each and an Alstom 6.6 kV electric propulsion system.
Thomas Spindler, Head of Upgrades & Retrofits at MAN PrimeServ Augsburg, explains: »To meet TOTE’s requirements, we have developed a solution based on our well-proven 51/60DF retrofit. Accordingly, the engineering approach to the 58/64 retrofit is very familiar to us, and this project represents a straightforward conversion procedure.«
Spindler adds: »Not only will the retrofitted engines meet all new emission standards; the new components they receive during conversion will significantly extend their working life.«
Seaspan Shipyard in Victoria, Canada, and Tote have just completed the first phase of the conversion which consisted in remodeling the first vessel in order to enable LNG bunkering. The engine conversion itself will begin some time in 2019. MAN is currently in the process of developing the 58/64 dual-fuel conversion technology-wise. A next step will be testing the DF technology for 58/64 engines on the MAN testbed with a retrofitted 58/64DF engine. The retrofits are scheduled to be completed in early 2020 and early 2021.
TOTE Maritime Alaska handles approximately one-third of goods transportation between the continental US and Alaska. Both the »North Star« and »Midnight Sun« operate fast routes between Anchorage, Alaska and Tacoma, Washington. The two Orca-class ships were originally constructed by General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego and were commissioned in 2003. »We have been investigating and testing many options for shifting the fleet to LNG. The conversion of the existing engines is the most reliable and beneficial solution,« says Peter Keller, Executive Vice President of TOTE and chairman of the industry coalition SEA LNG. The American shipping company has been working on the LNG conversion of the two vessels for more than six years and was set to start in 2015. But due to the loss of the »El Faro« in October 2015, the project had to be pushed back.
TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico is notable for ordering the world’s first LNG-powered Marlin-class container ships, the »Isla Bella« and »Perla del Caribe,« launched in 2015 and both featuring single MAN B&W 8L70ME-GI engines. TOTE is also establishing their own LNG bunkering solutions. Keller expects to see more private investment in general around the world as LNG continues to be embraced as an important environmentally superior maritime fuel. »TOTE is happy to support other operators interested in LNG as they navigate the technical and regulatory hurdles. We hope that other maritime operators do want to use our bunkering solutions as this would mean more shippers using this environmentally friendly fuel,« Keller says.
LNG conversions gain pace
In 2017, MAN and Reederei Wessels attracted a lot of attention with the conversion of container ship »Wes Amelie«. Its 48/60 engines were converted to 51/60DF, a process already proved in stationary plants. »Wes Amelie« was the first-of-its kind maritime project.
»With TOTE it’s a bit more challenging, since it is the first conversion of our 58/64 engines to 58/64 Retrofit engines operating on dual-fuel. The entire technology needs to be re-developed by our engineering experts and tested thoroughly«, Denis Pissarski, Strategic Marketing Manager at MAN PrimeServ, tells HANSA. Thus, MAN bought an old 58/64 engine back from a customer to convert it and test it before working on TOTE’s engines.
MAN has already signed a letter of intent to convert three sister vessels of »Wes Amelie«. MAN CSO Wayne Jones has pledged a 2 mill. € discount to the next ten conversions of HFO powered vessels to gas engines, meaning 200,000€ each. According to MAN this move caused high interest and they receive many requests. The company says, they are now able to convert all engines in their portfolio to dual-fuel operation.
