Bernd Siebert (left) – Head of Retrofit & Upgrades – pictured signing the MoU on methanol fueling on behalf of MAN Energy Solutions with Giovanni Canu – Vice President Energy Assets and Fleet Decarbonization, NCLH
MAN Energy Solutions has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) on a mission to retrofit a medium-speed MAN 48/60 engine to make it able to dual-fuel diesel/methanol operation.
The MoU supplies for a multi-stage mission with the third and last stage involving the completion of discipline testing and engine handover to NCLH for business operation.
Bernd Siebert – Head of Retrofit & Upgrades at MAN PrimeServ – mentioned: “At MAN Energy Solutions, we understand the need to form alliances on the road to decarbonisation. NCLH is a long-time partner with whom we have successfully cooperated on projects in the past and, in the context of this important venture, is the first cruise company that we have chosen to work with.”
He continued: “As a fuel, methanol is quickly becoming an option within the market. It is a clean, efficient and safe future-fuel that offers a path to decarbonization through significant greenhouse-gas reductions, and is net-zero when produced from renewable energy sources. This memorandum underlines our mutual commitment to reducing shipping’s environmental footprint and has the potential to show the way to net-zero for – not just the cruise segment – but the maritime transport industry as a whole.”
The signing of methanol fueling MOU the comes inside weeks of Norwegian — whose manufacturers embody Norwegian Cruise Lines, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas — asserting that it had joined the Methanol Institute.
Robin Lindsay, Norwegian’s EVP of vessel operations at Norwegian mentioned then that Norwegian was finishing up a feasibility evaluation of retrofitting current engines to function with twin fuels – diesel and methanol.
