Swiss marine power company WinGD and Belgian shipping and cleantech group CMB.TECH have signed an agreement on the development of ammonia-fuelled two-stroke engines. The companies aim to install the ammonia dual-fuel X72DF engine on a series of ten 210,000 dwt newcastlemax bulk carriers to be built at Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding in 2025 and 2026. The series of large bulk carriers ordered by CMB’s sister firm Bocimar late last year will be powered by WinGD’s ammonia engines and will be the first of its kind based on WinGD’s existing X92B engine design.
Under this joint development project, CMB.TECH will support WinGD in establishing its ammonia-fuelled engine concept for a large bore engine. CMB.TECH has significant insight into alternative fuels and builds, designs, owns and operates large marine and industrial applications that run on hydrogen and ammonia.
CMB CEO Alexander Saverys said: “We believe that ammonia is the most promising zero-carbon fuel for deep sea vessels. Our intention is to have dual-fuel ammonia-diesel engines on our dry bulk vessels, container vessels and chemical tankers. Collaborating with WinGD on the development of the first ammonia-fuelled two-stroke engines for our fleet is a pioneering partnership on the road to zero emissions in shipping.”
The bulletin mentions ammonia fuelled large marine engines as if these are already in place. Is this the case?