By
Michele Witthaus |
Fjord Line has contracted Rolls Royce for the installation of pure LNG-based power and propulsion systems in two cruise ferries being built at Norway’s Bergen Group Fosen yard in Norway.
Each vessel will be equipped with four gas-only engines, which will power a Promas integrated rudder and propeller propulsion system.
Rolls Royce says the engines will reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by about 90 per cent and sulphur oxide (SOx) and particulates emissions to negligible levels.
“Fjord Line has a clear environmental strategy and choosing single fuel gas engines makes us pioneers in the cruise ferry industry,” said the company’s CEO, Ingvald Fardal. “We will have the first and the largest cruise ferry ever to run on LNG as the sole fuel type. Rolls-Royce is the leading manufacturer of these well proven gas engines and we are very pleased to have their technology onboard.”
Rolls-Royce general sales manager merchant and navy engines, Odd Magne Horgen, commented: “These vessels are the first international LNG-fuelled passenger vessels in operation, and we are very pleased to be a part of this groundbreaking project.”
Each of the 4,000 dwt, 170-metre-long vessels, which will operate out of Bergen, Norway, will have 306 cabins and will carry up to 1,500 passengers and 600 cars. The first ship, MS Stavangerfjord, will enter service in May 2013 and the second, MS Bergensfjord, will be ready to sail a few months later.