South Korean ship-owner SK Shipping (SK) has been contracted by Winterthur Gas & Diesel (WinGD) to provide a pair of 5-cylinder X72DF (5X72DF) engines, which will be used to power two 180,000m³ liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.
To be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), the twin-skeg LNG carriers will feature HHI’s Hi-SGAS system.
The system combines fuel system supply for the two 5X72DF engines with the Hi-SGAS system, that can fully re-liquefy the boil off gas (BOG) from the cargo.
Hyundai Heavy Industries’ engine and machinery division (HHI-EMD) will build the engines, which will be delivered in February 2018 for the first vessel and in April of the same year for the second.
Once delivered, the engines will be fixed to a GTT Mark III flex membrane cargo containment system.
The ships are planned to be delivered in 2019.
SK Shipping vice-president Harry Cho said: “These new LNG carriers will be the second series employing WinGD’s X-DF technology in our fleet.
“We find that the competitive capital cost, excellent performance, low maintenance and increased safety as well as highest environmental standards is a very attractive combination and essential for commercial success in the highly demanding sector we operate in.”
SK ordered the low-speed low-pressure dual-fuel X72DF engines for LNG carriers in 2014.
Currently being built by Samsung Heavy Industries, the carriers will feature two 6-cylinder X62DF engines each.
WinGD said that the 5X72DF engines can also be used to power vessels that use heavy fuel oil (HFO), marine diesel oil (MDO) and marine gas oil (MGO).
In June, the first dual-fuel two-stroke engine equipped with low-pressure X-DF gas admission technology developed by WinGD underwent a sea trial.
The trial was conducted by Terntank's 15000DWT chemical tanker.
Image: WinGD 5X72DF engine. Photo: courtesy of Winterthur Gas & Diesel Ltd.
