World’s First Methanol-Fuelled Engine Ordered for VLCC Segment

China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES), the Shanghai-listed shipping giant and daughter company of China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI), has ordered an MAN B&W 7G80ME-LGIM (-Liquid Gas Injection Methanol) main engine in connection with the construction of a VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier). The first such dual-fuel methanol order for the ship type, Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co (DSIC) will construct the vessel with delivery due by April 2026.

CSE (China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation Diesel Engine Co., Ltd.) will build the engine, which will come accompanied by MAN Energy Solutions’ proprietary EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) emissions system.

The new order follows on the heels of CMES’s recent order for six small-bore, seven-cylinder 21/31DF-M, methanol-burning GenSets in connection with the construction of 2 × 9,300 ceu (car equivalent units) PCTCs, which itself followed an order for two MAN B&W ME-LGIM main engines for the same vessels.

Bjarne Foldager, Head of Two-Stroke Business, MAN Energy Solutions, said: “This is a unique project that represents the first such methanol-burning engine within this particular marine segment and which comes from a major VLCC fleet owner. Taking this, and its recent dual-fuel business with us into account, CMES is definitively a first mover to methanol, which we expect will figure prominently as a future fuel across all vessel segments.”

Thomas S. Hansen, Head of Promotion and Customer Support, MAN Energy Solutions, said: “Switching to low-carbon fuel is the most effective way to decarbonise the existing maritime fleet and we are currently experiencing an increased interest in methanol-powered engines. In tune with this, we recently expanded our methanol portfolio such that its power range now covers all large merchant-marine vessel applications, including VLCCs. The over 150 ME-LGIM engines ordered and more than 450,000 running hours on methanol already recorded at sea show how capable our concept is.”

About the MAN B&W ME-LGIM engine

MAN Energy Solutions developed the ME-LGIM (-Liquid Gas Injection Methanol) dual-fuel engine for operation on methanol, as well as conventional fuel. The engine is based on the company’s proven ME-series, with its approximately 8,500 engines in service, and works according to the Diesel principle. When operating on green methanol, the engine offers carbon-neutral propulsion for large merchant-marine vessels. Currently more than 150 ME-LGIM engines are on order or in service, more than 70 of which are G95ME-LGIM Mk 10.5 variants.