Unifeeder, one of Northern Europe’s leading feeder operators, is braving new territory by putting ‘Wes Amelie’, the world’s first LNG-converted container vessel, to work on its shipping route between Rotterdam, the Baltics and Poland.
The Wes Amelie project involved the retrofitting the 1,036-TEU feeder containership’s MAN 8L48/60B main engine to a multi-fuel, four-stroke MAN 51/60DF unit that enables dual-fuel operation – the first such conversion of its type the world has ever seen.
Wes Amelie’s dual-fuel conversion (seen above in the MAN Diesel and Turbo video) has enabled the vessel to significantly reduce its SOx emissions by 99%, NOx by approximately 90%, and CO2 by up to 20%.
It now meets both the Tier II and Tier III emission requirements set by the International Maritime Organisation.
Ship management firm Wessels Reederei received financial support granted on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) for its Wes Amelie conversion project.
It now plans to start converting many more of its vessels, with 16 identical sister ships available for the exact same LNG conversion.
Learn how to combat increasing levels of marine emissions such as sulfur oxides (SOx), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), particulate matter (PM) and carbon dioxide (CO2) in the 'Mountain High, Ocean Deep: Reducing Emissions' technical paper by Linde Group
Niels Kjaer-Richardt, Shortsea Director at Unifeeder, said: “Environmentally friendly solutions are asked for whenever we discuss annual contracts with our customers.
“Even though the technical solutions are not yet optimal, it is important that we search for all options in the market to support our customers.
“The environment has always been a major factor when the European industry choses partners.
“At Unifeeder, we are proud of being front runners operating and testing the first retrofitted LNG container vessel in the world.”
