Finnish technology group Wärtsilä has been contracted to supply the cargo handling and fuel supply systems for four new 40,000 cbm gas carrier vessels.
Ordered earlier this year, LPG/ammonia carriers are being built at the CIMC SinoPacific Offshore & Engineering (SOE) shipyard in China for Norwegian shipowner Avance Gas.
Wärtsilä’s cargo handling systems for gas tankers are designed to reduce operating costs and improve the vessel’s Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI). The Wärtsilä LPG Fuel Supply System (LFSS) enables the use of LPG as fuel. This increases operational efficiency and supports environmental sustainability, according to the company.
“We are very familiar with Wärtsilä’s capabilities in gas handling applications, and we are confident that they are the best solution for these new vessels. The global support they can offer through their broad and comprehensive service network is another reason why they were chosen,” Wenbao Gao, Vice President of CIMC ENRIC, CEO of CIMC SOE, commented.
The Avance Gas units will be the first medium-sized LPG carrier vessels built at the SOE yard.
The Wärtsilä equipment is scheduled to be delivered in the latter part of 2024, while the ships are scheduled for delivery in 2025 and 2026.
Avance Gas owns and operates a fleet of fourteen very large gas carriers and has two dual-fuel newbuildings for delivery in 2024 and the four abovementioned mid-sized gas carriers.
Earlier this month, the company agreed to sell its two remaining 91,000 cbm dual fuel newbuilds planned for delivery next year. The ships are being built by Hanwha Ocean, formerly known as Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME). They were ordered back in April 2021 at a price of approximately $78 million each. Both vessels have undergone upgrades worth about $3 million to enable them to carry ammonia cargoes and to be converted to ammonia-powered vessels in the future, the owner said.
The two VLGCs, with hull numbers 2367 and 2368 and the names “Avance Castor” and “Avance Pollux”, were originally scheduled for delivery in the third and fourth quarters of 2023, respectively. However, their delivery dates have been postponed to March and May 2024, respectively.