Wärtsilä to Provide Propulsion for "World's First" LNG-Fuelled Offshore Construction Vessel

Wärtsilä will supply the engines and other propulsion machinery for the "world's first" LNG-fuelled offshore construction vessel.
Image: Wärtsilä

Wärtsilä Corporation (Wärtsilä) has announced that it will supply the engines and other propulsion machinery for the "world's first" liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fuelled offshore construction vessel, which is being built for Belgian operator Dredging International NV (DEME).

"The decision to utilise clean burning LNG fuel represents our commitment to provide environmentally sustainable solutions for our operations. Wärtsilä has extensive experience and vast technological know-how in this field, which is why we have selected them as our partner in this project," said Jan Gabriel, Head of the Newbuilding and Conversion Department at DEME.

The vessel - being built at the Cosco shipyard in China - will be known as Orion, and will be powered by four 9-cylinder Wärtsilä 46DF dual-fuel electric propulsion engines, as well as two 6-cylinder Wärtsilä 20DF dual-fuel engines.

"We are pleased to have been involved in this newbuild project from the conceptual design stage, since this enables our input on providing the most fuel efficient solution," said Arthur Boogaard, General Manager, Business Development Special Vessels at Wärtsilä.

"We are also delighted that the Wärtsilä 46DF engine has been selected, as the dual-fuel version of this well proven and popular engine has only recently been introduced."

Earlier this month, Wärtsilä, along with COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. (CHI), today announced that the companies' joint development of an efficient natural gas operating fleet concept had been granted Approval in Principle (AiP) from Lloyd's Register's (LR).