On 19 October 2022 MAN Energy Solutions’s after-sales division, MAN PrimeServ, announced the signing of a contract to retrofit two LPG carriers for Tianjin Southwest Maritime Ltd, the Chinese liquefied-gas carrier operator.
The COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Guangdong) yard will host the respective conversions of the individual MAN B&W 6G60ME-C engines aboard Gas Gemini (pictured) and Gas Aquarius to dual-fuel MAN B&W 6G60ME-LGIP units capable of running on LPG. The two vessels will be retrofitted in parallel, beginning 30 May 2023.
In a notable first, PrimeServ will jointly carry out the work with CMS (CSSC Marine Service Co. Ltd.), the after-sales subsidiary of CSSC Marine Power Group.
Tao Guohua, Vice President, CSSC Marine Power Group, said: “Congratulations to Southwest Maritime on the LGIP conversion contract signing between MAN Energy Solutions and CMS.
“I do believe that the emerging engine-retrofit market will be a new area for MAN Energy Solutions to strengthen the existing close cooperation between us.
“We are also keenly looking forward to building a strategic cooperation with MAN Energy Solutions in this market and to further extend our cooperation into more portfolios.”
The contract signing comes in the wake of Oslo-listed BW LPG, the world’s leading owner and operator of LPG vessels, announcing in June 2022 that it, under MAN PrimeServ’s supervision, had converted the main engine of BW Malacca to dual-fuel running.
The last such conversion for a series of 15 LPG carriers, all work was carried out at Yiu Lian Dockyards in Shenzhen, evidence of China’s ability to successfully execute such retrofits.
