Car Carriers Stir Methanol Engine Demand

China Merchants Heavy Industry has ordered 2 × MAN B&W 7S60ME-LGIM (-Liquid Gas Injection Methanol) engines in connection with the construction of 2 × 9,300 ceu (car equivalent units) PCTCs for China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES). The business represents a number of firsts, including the first order globally for the S60ME-LGIM variant, the first methanol-fuelled engine for a PCTC, and the first Chinese-built methanol engine.

The engines will feature MAN Energy Solutions’ proprietary EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) system. Engine manufacturer, CSE, will construct the engines in China with respective vessel delivery set for 2025 and 2026; the order also contains an option for an additional four vessels.

Bjarne Foldager, Head of Two-Stroke Business, MAN Energy Solutions, said: “Interest in using methanol in ocean-going vessels is at an all-time high, especially in the container vessel segment but also in the vehicle-transport sector whose main players are moving to expand capacity driven by very strong, Chinese car sales, and to renew their fleets in response to new emission regulations. Thus, with this order, CMES is simultaneously expanding its business and improving its sustainable profitability. While LNG has been the most popular alternative fuel within the PCTC segment, CMES is one of the first movers to methanol, which we expect will figure prominently as a future fuel in the maritime energy transition across all vessel segments.”

Thomas S. Hansen, Head of Promotion and Customer Support, MAN Energy Solutions, said: “The 110 ME-LGIM engines ordered and more than 400,000 running hours on methanol already recorded at sea show the potency of our methanol concept. Indeed, in response to the increasing interest in methanol-powered engines, we recently expanded our portfolio with the addition of S60-, G60- and G45-LGIM variants such that the propulsion power of our methanol portfolio now spans across all large merchant-marine vessel applications such as container vessels, bulk carriers, tankers, and general cargo vessels like PCTCs.”