World’s largest ethane carriers to be ME-GI powered

FEBRUARY 16, 2016 — Five 85,000 cu.m Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs) will each be powered by  a single MAN B&W 6G60ME-GI main engine.

The vessels have been ordered for UEC (United Ethane Carriers) a joint venture between Jaccar Holdings and Hartmann Reederei. The ships will be built by China’s Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Offshore Co. Ltd. (DSIC), while Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) will build the engines in Korea. Delivery of the first carrier is scheduled for the middle of 2017.

“The ME-GI engine appealed to us for several reasons, not least its environmental credentials with negligible slip of gas fuel, and its robust, stable combustion properties – even in heavy seas,” said Captain Ulrich Adami, Fleet Manager, Hartmann Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KG. “We also viewed its high fuel efficiency and its flexibility of being able to run on HFO or ethane as pluses when it came to selecting main engines for our newbuildings.”

The engines will meet Tier III emission requirements with the aid of MAN Diesel & Turbo’s EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) technique. They will feature an injection pressure of 400 bar and form the main part of a propulsion system that also features a MAN Diesel & Turbo Alpha controllable pitch propeller.

The ME-GI engines will drive VBS1810 propellers, which are the largest Mk 5 models (diameter 7.6 m) ordered from MAN Diesel & Turbo’s propeller portfolio to date.

To maximize efficiency, the propeller plant features Kappel design propeller blades and a fairing cone/rudder bulb system.

MAN Diesel & Turbo is also providing each vessel’s shaft-alternator system.

The vessels will be the largest ethane carriers ever constructed and will also feature another world-first. Their innovative “Star-Trilobe” cargo tanks consist of three cylinders combined into one giving better utilization of cargo hold space. This results in an increase in cargo capacity of nearly 30% over similarly-sized vessels with conventional tanks, reducing shipping costs through greater economies of scale.