MAN Diesel & Turbo together with Germanischer Lloyd have published a study analyzing the problem of the best way for container ships to meet the present and future exhaust emission regulations. The four technologies investigated in the study are: exhaust gas cleaning by scrubber, scrubber plus Waste Heat Recovery (WHR), LNG as a fuel and LNG with WHR. In the study, circumstances were considered for five sizes of container ship. The smallest is a feeder of 2,500 TEU going up to the largest of 18,000 TEU. For each ship size the speed, engine power, round trip distance and percentage of distance spent in Emission Control Areas is estimated proportionally. The study concludes that LNG offers lower emissions and given the right circumstances, less fuel cost. [More]

There have been several reports in the recent press about an imminent order for several 18,000 TEU container ships for Maersk, to be built by Daewoo in Korea. MAN B&W published a detailed paper Propulsion Trends in Container Vessels in 2004 on the subject of how big ships will grow and concluded that the size of 18,000 TEU is the most likely ceiling. This size of ship, sometimes referred to as Malacca-max would require a propulsion power of 103,000 kW. These vessels could be powered by a single or twin engine arrangement. [More]