Wärtsilä to Supply Auxiliary Engines for Methanol-Fuelled CMA CGM Boxships

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Tuesday August 1, 2023

Engineering firm Wärtsilä is set to supply auxiliary engines for six new methanol-fuelled boxships ordered by France's CMA CGM.

The 15,000 TEU vessels were ordered in the second quarter of this year, are being built at the Dalian Shipbuilding yard in China and will be CMA CGM's first ships to run on methanol, Wärtsilä said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

The company will supply three six-cylinder and one sevel-cylinder Wärtsilä 32M engines fitted with selective catalytic reduction systems to each vessel. Wärtsilä will deliver the equipment from late next year, and the ships are due for delivery in the autumn of 2025.

"Our goal is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050," Xavier Leclercq, vice-president of CMA Ships, said in the statement.

"By fitting our future fleet with methanol systems, we will be making a serious contribution towards achieving this target.

"For this reason, we require the experience and technological leadership that Wärtsilä provides in the development of reliable engines capable of operating with new, sustainable marine fuels."

Methanol is rapidly growing in popularity as an alternative bunker fuel, driven initially by AP Moller-Maersk's order of methanol-fuelled ships but now also by orders across several shipping segments.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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