Container ship operators looking for the lowest possible fuel oil consumption at any engine load will be interested to hear word from MAN Diesel & Turbo that the first super-long-stroke large bore two-stroke engine specifically designed for them, the S90ME-C9.2, has just successfully completed trials on Hyundai Heavy Industries Engine & Machinery Division’s  test bed. Marine Diesel Engine MAN S90ME-C9.2: Photo credit Man Diesel & Turbo The new engine, of reduced size for container ship engine rooms (although the largest ever designed by MAN) is based on the VLCC-optimised S90ME-C8 engine, as operators look to reduce operating costs through slow steaming, turbocharger cut out and low-load engine optimisation; all of which are offered by the new engine. Engine Design Concept – MAN S90ME-C9.2 Low-speed two-stroke main engines of MAN’s existing MC type, with a chain driven camshaft, have limited flexibility with regard to fuel injection and exha... [More]

Japan’s shipbuilder Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) is showing a new design of LNG fueled container ship. The design and development are at an advanced stage and Classification Society DNV has granted Approval in Principle.The container ship, of 9,000 TEU capacity, has an LOA of 1,010 ft (308 m), beam of 157 ft (48 m) and draft of 47 ft (14.5 m). The ship will be propelled by a single, electronically controlled, slow speed, two stroke, dual fuel main engine and will be offered with EGR which satisfies IMO Tier3 requirements. It is the first time that Type B, LNG storage tanks will be used on such a large container ship. Type B tanks continuously produce boil-off evaporating LNG and must be used up for propulsion or powering auxiliaries in port, for example supplying power for reefer containers. [More]

Richard Branson (founder of the iconic Virgin brand that includes Virgin Airways) has put his financial muscle behind the launch of an apparently non-profitmaking website, ShippingEfficiency.org that assigns a 1 to 7 rating for greenhouse gas emission to each and every ship (excepting naval vessels) in a database of about 60,000 ocean going ships.  Branson and like-minded business leaders have it in mind by this means to blow the whistle on ships that fail to measure up in the fight against global warming.Leader of the project, Peter Boyd, explained the idea in a Sky News interview on 6, December 2010: "You can go online and see an estimate of how clean or dirty the ship is." Meaning that owners can show details of their fleet to eco-friendly shippers and potential charterers, enabling international brand name shippers with global trading patterns to pick ships with the best eco-friendly ratings to carry their products. It is with this business spin-off in mind that may lead some ... [More]

MHI announce environmentally friendly, fuel-saving design for New Panamax Container Ship [More]