Bow Cecil News

Nduna Maritime, a subsidiary of the Mnambithi Group, and the integrated chemicals and energy company Sasol have invested in South Africa's first locally-owned chemical tanker with a funding agreement made through the Sasol Siyakha Trust.The Bow Cecil is claimed to be the first South Africa flagged vessel to transport chemicals to international markets. "We are particularly proud of this landmark agreement, as it is a significant investment into localizing and diversifying our supply chain. As a global producer of a number of chemical products, we supply numerous markets around the world with products made in South Africa. Through Nduna Maritime…

MAN Diesel & Turbo’s Propeller & Aft Ship organization has won an order to retrofit and upgrade a series of 11 × 37,500 dwt vessels from the Odfjell chemical tanker fleet. The vessels are of the Kværner Class and are due to dock during 2015-17, at which time the upgrades will be implemented. The first vessel, M/T Bow Clipper, will dock and be upgraded in August 2015. Each vessel has an MAN B&W two-stroke engine powering a four-bladed, controllable-pitch propeller and a PTO-driven shaft alternator.

MAN Diesel & Turbo’s Propeller & Aft Ship organisation has won an order to retrofit and upgrade a series of 11 × 37,500 dwt vessels from the Odfjell chemical tanker fleet. The vessels are of the Kværner Class and are due to dock during 2015-17, at which time the upgrades will be implemented. The first vessel, ‘M/T Bow Clipper’, will dock and be upgraded in August 2015. Each vessel has an MAN B&W two-stroke engine powering a four-bladed, controllable-pitch propeller and a PTO-driven shaft alternator. The vessels’ new service speed at reduced main-engine output – combined with the implementation of MAN’s highly-efficient Kappel propeller blades, a fairing cone and a pre-fabricated rudder bulb kit – will all contribute to power savings and reduced exhaust-gas emissions.

Providing a beacon for the industry by embracing the world's first, fully electronically-controlled two-stroke marine engine, Norwegian chemical tanker specialist Odfjell is starting to see operating benefits resulting from its pioneering step. Long-run performance of the system applied to the main engine of the 37,500-dwt parcel tanker Bow Cecil last fall will have a signal bearing on shipowners' future commercial uptake of the technology, as encapsulated in MAN B&W's ME diesel program. In the meantime, the engineers aboard Bow Cecil have found the electronic system to be a valuable tool in optimizing combustion performance, facilitating engine tuning and adjustments in accordance with changing operating conditions and with regularly experienced, marked variations in bunker properties.

MAN B&W Diesel A/S launched the ME-GI engine, a range designed for the highly specialized LNG carrier market. The design builds on experience gained from the earlier MC-GI engines combined with the developments in the latest electronically controlled ME engines. The manufacturer is touting the combination of low installation and running costs for this highly specialised type of vessel makes the adoption of the dual fuel ME-GI engine from MAN B&W very attractive for owners and operators. An additional reliquefaction plant allows sale of more gas when the gas price is higher than the fuel oil price. “The LNG carrier market, like all sectors of the transportation industry, needs to control and, where possible, reduce operational expenses, while securing sound profit.

MAN B&W Diesel A/S launched the ME-GI engine, a range designed for the LNG carrier market. The ME-GI design combines with the developments in the latest electronically controlled ME engines. "The LNG carrier market, like all sectors of the transportation industry, needs to control and, where possible, reduce operational expenses, while securing sound profit. We see many new opportunities in this area for cost-down solutions permitted by the increased flexibility and greater control with the ME-GI engine," Vice President of Two-Stroke Sales, Ole Grøne, said. Traditionally, LNG carriers have been driven by steam turbines that are fed from boilers fired by the boil off gas, supported by heavy fuel oil.

Having already put down a marker for the industry by converting the main engine of one of its ships to full electronic control, Norwegian chemtanker specialist Odfjell has further endorsed the technology by nominating a two-stroke electronic engine from the outset for a newbuild project. Experience gained with the installation in the 37,500-dwt Bow Cecil, run in wholesale electronic mode for about a year, has convinced Odfjell of the attributes and potential of such a system. It has therefore selected a purpose-designed, electronic version of the MC-C low-speed diesel from the MAN B&W stable for a 37,500-dwt parcel tanker contracted with Norwegian shipbuilder Kleven Floro.

In extending its adherence to delivering cost-efficient and safety driven technologies, DNV has introduced a new means of quickly and accurately determining steel thickness can speed ship surveys. It is especially valuable in inspecting old and corroded steelwork. Present-day methods, based on ultrasonic thickness measurements, are said to have dubious reliability on heavily corroded plates, and for large vessels are also considered too slow. The basic technological challenge was to transmit 100 percent of the signal energy through corroded steel plates, and receive and interpret the reflected signal to give an accurate thickness measurement. The basic principles of the new measuring method (half-wave resonance) have been known for 40 years.

Eastern seaboard operator Gypsum Transportation provided a beacon for the industry when it nominated a camshaft-less, electronically controlled Sulzer diesel engine for its 50,000-dwt-bulker newbuild project. Now, the interests behind a Mediterranean reefership scheme have also endorsed the concept, which represents a milestone in two-stroke technology, and signals a step change in large diesel engine operating flexibility. In one sense, MAN B&W stole a march on arch-rival Wärtsilä through the recent conversion at sea of a low-speed, MC-series propulsion engine to full electronic control. However, Wärtsilä's latest success in sealing contracts for two Sulzer engines configured from the outset for operation in electronic mode gives new commercial succour to the group's technological drive.

Developments in vessel powering, propulsion and related systems over the past decade, in particular, have had a fundamental bearing both on maritime technological advance as a whole, and on the ultimate efficiency and competitiveness of shipping in its manifold forms. Marine engine designers and producers devote considerable resources to driving the technology forward, marrying the client markets' ever-more pressing expectations as to economy and reliability with new environmental standards. The process demands not only a certain scale and the requisite know-how and long-term strategic vision, but also pure industrial will. Through the endeavors of MAN B&W Diesel's Danish subsidiary…

As the culmination of nearly 12 years' research and development work, and a pointer to the direction of two-stroke diesel propulsion technology, MAN B&W has rolled-out its first purpose-built, electronically-controlled low-speed engine. Produced at the group's versatile Frederikshavn plant in Denmark, the camshaft-free 7S50ME-C engine is claimed to offer a range of operating, cost and environmental benefits, and will be fitted in a 37,500-dwt newbuild for Norwegian chemtanker specialist Odfjell. Odfjell's bold decision to nominate the ME concept, and so dispense with conventional control arrangements based on camshaft drive, follows its experience with a modern tanker powered by a two-stroke 6L60MC engine adapted for full electronic command in November 2000.