JULY 12, 2013 — MAN Diesel & Turbo has signed a Letter of Intent with Vancouver-based Waterfront Shipping for the use of four MAN ME-LGI engines on its ships. The engines will run on a blend of 95% methanol and 5% diesel fuel.

Waterfront Shipping specializes in the carriage of bulk chemicals and clean petroleum products. It is a subsidiary of Methanex Corporation, the world's largest supplier of methanol and is the world's largest operator of ocean methanol tankers global marine transportation company specializing in the safe, responsible and reliable transport of bulk chemicals and clean petroleum products.

With the growing demand for cleaner marine fuel to meet environmental regulations coming into effect in Northern Europe and other regions, methanol is a promising alternative fuel for ships.

"Methanol is a sulfur-free fuel and provides many environmental and clean burning benefits. In using methanol-based marine fuel, we can reduce emissions and fuel costs at the same time," said Jone Hognestad, President, Waterfront Shipping.
 
The four Waterfront Shipping G50ME-LGI units are targeted for the end of 2013, with engine delivery to follow in the summer of 2015.

Announced July 1, the ME-LGI expands the MAN dual-fuel portfolio, enabling the use of more sustainable fuels such as methanol and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

The ME-LGI concept is an entirely new concept that can be applied to all MAN Diesel & Turbo low-speed engines, either ordered as an original unit or through retrofitting. With two new injection concepts, the ME-LGI concept greatly expands the company's dual-fuel portfolio and enables the exploitation of more low-flash-point fuels such as methanol and LPG.

The engine's "ME-" prefix indicates that from well-proven electronic controls that also encompass the fuel being injected by a so-called Booster Fuel Injection Valve. This innovative fuel booster, specially developed for the ME-LGI engine, ensures that a low pressure fuel-gas supply system can be employed, significantly reducing first-time costs and increasing reliability.

Booster Fuel Injection Valve

"We can really see the momentum towards dual-fuel operation building now," says Ole Grøne, Senior Vice President – Low Speed Promotion & Sales – MAN Diesel & Turbo. "Owing to market interest, we have now extended our dual-fuel engine programme with an ME-LGI unit that can run on liquid fuels."

"The interest in our ME-LGI engine confirms this dual-fuel, low-speed trend and offers even more alternatives to HFO – including methanol, LPG, dimethyl ether (DME), and (bio-) ethanol as well as other, low-flash-point fuels," says Mr. Grøne.