First PCTC Order Placed for a Methanol-Fueled Engine

China Merchants Heavy Industry has ordered two MAN B&W 7S60ME-LGIM (-Liquid Gas Injection Methanol) engines in connection with the construction of two 9,300 ceu (car equivalent units) PCTCs for China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES).

The order is the first order globally for the S60ME-LGIM variant, the first methanol-fuelled engine for a PCTC, and the first Chinese-built methanol engine.

Engine manufacturer, CSE, will construct the engines in China with respective vessel delivery set for 2025 and 2026; the order also contains an option for an additional four vessels. The engines will feature MAN Energy Solutions’ proprietary Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) system.

Bjarne Foldager, Head of Two-Stroke Business, MAN Energy Solutions, said: “Interest in using methanol in ocean-going vessels is at an all-time high, especially in the container vessel segment but also in the vehicle-transport sector whose main players are moving to expand capacity driven by very strong Chinese car sales.”

He says, with this order, CMES is simultaneously expanding its business and improving its sustainable profitability. “While LNG has been the most popular alternative fuel within the PCTC segment, CMES is one of the first movers to methanol, which we expect will figure prominently as a future fuel in the maritime energy transition across all vessel segments.”

Thomas S. Hansen, Head of Promotion and Customer Support, MAN Energy Solutions, said: “The 110 ME-LGIM engines ordered and more than 400,000 running hours on methanol already recorded at sea show the potency of our methanol concept. Indeed, in response to the increasing interest in methanol-powered engines, we recently expanded our portfolio with the addition of S60-, G60- and G45-LGIM variants such that the propulsion power of our methanol portfolio now spans across all large merchant-marine vessel applications such as container vessels, bulk carriers, tankers, and general cargo vessels like PCTCs.”