German engineering company Technolog has landed the contract for the first conversion of a large boxship to run on LNG.
The company said it has been commissioned to work on the 15,000-teu Sajir (built 2014).
Technolog has already been involved in the pilot project by providing technical consulting services during the preliminary phase of the conversion.
It will now come up with the overall conversion design for the Chinese Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding group, whose repair yard Huarun Dadong Dockyard (HRDD) will carry out the work.
"With our design, we have succeeded in intelligently combining the existing design with additional components, systems and software,” said Hans-Jurgen Voigt, Technolog managing director.
“By allowing LNG to be used as a fuel, this retrofitting will help us to achieve the optimum balance of environmental protection, sustainability and economically efficient operation in the shipping industry.
"As a demonstrator vessel, the Sajor will set the benchmark for future conversions of vessels of this size.”
Team to head to China
A construction supervision team will be in China to oversee the work.
Technolog said that by using LNG, Safir can lower its CO2 emissions by 3%.
The vessel's engine will also be able to use low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) as a back-up.
Sajir is one of the 17 vessels in the fleet that were originally designed to be LNG-ready after being acquired through the UASC takeover in 2017.
These have been designed so that LNG bunker tanks and associated pipework can be easily retrofitted to allow them to use gas as a fuel.
Sajir is set up with a bay that can accommodate a 6,500-cbm LNG bunker tank, which is likely to be fitted as a membrane-type unit.
