MPC Container Ships reports that it has installed Berg Propulsion’s green-fuel technology aboard its 150m, dual-fuel sister vessels NCL Nordland and NCL Vestland. As part of the contract, Berg also acted as “co-designer” for each ship’s engine room layout and propeller arrangement, comments Mattias Hansson, senior global sales manager at Berg.
Built this year by China’s Taizhou Sanfu Ship Engineering, NCL Nordland and NCL Vestland feature a 28.6m beam, a draught of 9.9m and 380 reefer plugs apiece. The vessels have been placed under a 15-year charter to North Sea Container Line (NCL), which will utilise them on a route linking Norway and Rotterdam.
Mattias Dombrowe, business manager for electric system integration at Berg, explains: “The hybridised set-up optimises energy use from gensets, the shaft alternator and 250kWh battery for load balancing during thruster or other peak loads, also accommodating the shore connector for zero emissions when the vessels are in port.” Both 1,300teu vessels can operate on methanol and/or MGO, and come equipped with Berg’s MPP 1410 controllable-pitch props and MTT bow and stern thrusters. Berg estimates that these propulsive systems could slash energy consumption per teu “by 63% per nautical mile compared to their predecessors”.
NCL has also signed a contract with Equinor to bunker bio-methanol, “initially running on a 5% blend, but increasing bio-methanol content over time to support carbon-neutral operations as the supply chain matures”, Berg says.
