World's first LNG-only ships

Contracts placed with Rolls-Royce Marine, Norway, for designs and equipment systems for two ro-ro vessels and two options mark a new direction in merchant ship propulsion.

Sea-Cargo has ordered the first ships in the world to be fuelled solely with LNG, and also have a simple mechanical drive propulsion system. Sea-Cargo was founded in 2001 through the merger of the liner activities of Seatrans and Nor Cargo, two leading shipping lines trading between the west coast of Norway, UK and mainland Europe. On delivery from the Bharati shipyard in India in 2010 they will operate on a ten-day round trip service covering Baltic, Norwegian and British ports, bunkering gas fuel at one location. They are a major breakthrough, both in the application of LNG fuel for merchant vessels, and in the way the simple Rolls-Royce solution works. An important end result will be a large reduction in emissions compared with a similar ship using liquid fuel. Carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by about 20 percent, nitrogen oxide by about 90 percent, particulates negligible and sulphur oxide emissions will be zero. The new 132.8-metre-long Sea-Cargo vessels will be able to carry 5,600 tonnes of cargo on a draught of six metres, with up to 94TEU of containers on deck and 1,140 lane-metres of roro capacity.
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