Dutch shipyard Royal Niestern Sander is to rebuild a German ropax to run on LNG.
Work on owner ferry company Ems' 1,900-gt Munsterland (built 1986) is being carried out with a contribution from the European Union's European Regional Development Fund.
The yard will design and build a completely new aft section, including dual-fuel engines, LNG storage tanks, propulsion systems, all LNG installations, pipelines and other systems.
The process offers the possibility of reducing the idle time of an existing ship – and therefore the loss of income – to a minimum, the shipyard said.
The new shape of the stern will also reduce resistance, Niestern Sander added.
The yard said that in theory, the ship has reached the end of its life cycle.
But due to the conversion operation, "many technical systems are being replaced and upgraded to the current state of the art", the company said.
"The ship will actually be as-new again and will get a second life. This doubles the lifespan of most of the ship in practice and saves a lot of material."
The work will be finished in the first half of 2020.
