Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation has officially signed a supplemental agreement with Dalian Shipbuilding Industry to upgrade a VLCC to LNG power, after the company initially announced the plan in November.
The vessel, one of four VLCCs Cosco ordered at DSIC in 2017, will be equipped with a dual fuel LNG propulsion system with Cosco spending an additional $6m on the upgrade.
The expected date of delivery of the VLCC will be postponed from March 2021 to December 2021.
“The inclusion of dual fuel technology in the construction of the relevant VLCC which allows it to utilize LNG as fuel will enable the company to prepare for the more stringent carbon dioxide emission standards under phase3 of the implementation of the EEDI in advance, and provide the company with a new solution to the imposition of the global sulphur limit,” Cosco said in a release.
Cosco currently has a total of six VLCCs on its orderbook.
Earlier this year, Cosco and DSIC jointly started a project for the development of the LNG dual-fuel VLCC, which is expected to reduce carbon emissions by 20% and sulphur emissions by 95% compared to conventional fuel.
Last year, DSIC and China Merchants Energy Shipping also tested a landmark sail propulsion system on CMES’s newbuild VLCC New Vitality.
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