Asia/Pacific News
Chinese LNG Carriers Order Wärtsilä Gas Handling Systems
Wärtsilä Corp. (Wärtsilä) Wednesday announced it will supply four newbuild Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carriers with LNG re-liquefaction and gas handling systems.
Wärtsilä's re-liquefaction plants will return 70 percent of boil-off gas to the ships' LNG cargoes and feed the rest through its gas handling system to fuel propulsion engines.
The system can be stopped while the ships' cargo pumps are in operation meaning a reduced requirement for generator power, and thus fuel.
The four carriers will have a capacity of 174,000 cubic metres and are due for delivery between 2017 and 2019.
They are being built by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding in China on order for Teekay Corp., China LNG Shipping, CNOOC Energy Technology Co. of China, and BW Gas, respectively.
Wärtsilä said the contracts represent a breakthrough for the company in China "while at the same time emphasising the company's position as the market leader in supplying these solutions."
Wärtsilä said 35 such systems are already in operation and this order brings its outstanding order book to eight in total destined for China, South Korea and Japan.
In December Wärtsilä said "the world is switching to natural gas."
