Hyundai Heavy Industries
Hyundai Heavy Industries announced on March 12 that it succeeded in developing the world’s first Green-type marine vessel engines and finished the type approval procedure recently.
The test was attended by ship owners and inspectors from 11 classification societies around the world, including ABS in the US, DNV in Norway, LR in the UK and NK in Japan. Two types of engines, one with 37,900hp and the other with 38,200hp, obtained the type approval at this time. The ultra long stroke engines were developed jointly by Hyundai Heavy Industries and MAN Diesel & Turbo to meet the needs for higher eco-friendliness and performance efficiency.
An ultra long stroke engine is characterized by the stroke, which is the vertical travel distance of the pistons in the cylinder, being lengthened to increase its fuel efficiency by up to 7% and reduce the harmful gas emissions by 7% or so. For example, a post-Panamax (7,500TEU-class) container ship equipped with the engine can save approximately 3.2 billion won of fuel costs a year and the amount reaches about 1.4 billion won for a very large crude carrier (VLCC). Assuming that these vessels are in service for 25 years, the total adds up to 80 billion and 35 billion won, respectively.
The G-type engine of Hyundai Heavy Industries has recently been adopted by Almi Tankers in Greece for its 319,000-ton VLCC. It is scheduled to be employed by Thenamaris’ 5,000TEU-class container ship in April, too.