China Merchant Heavy Industry (CMHI) has ordered 6 × MAN 12V32/44CR main engines in connection with the building of a new 5,000-tonne floating installation crane vessel – already christened ‘Les Alizés’ – for Jan De Nul Group, an international maritime construction expert.
Delivering a cumulative output of 43,200 kW, the common-rail engines will each feature an enhanced, MAN-supplied SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) system for IMO Tier III-compliance, and will also meet the even-stricter Euro Stage V-compliant NOx-emission limit. The enhanced NOx-reduction rate is essential for the newbuilding to fulfill the exacting ULEV (Ultra Low Emission vessel) standard for better air quality, characterised by very low NOx and particle emissions.
Les Alizés will be built at CMHI’s shipyard in Jiangsu province, eastern China, and is scheduled for delivery in 2022.
Lex Nijsen, Head of Four-Stroke Marine Sales – MAN Energy Solutions, said: “The MAN 32/44CR’s robust design is proven across many applications and I’m very happy to see it chosen again for such an exciting project. MAN Energy Solutions has previously worked with Jan De Nul Group on many of its vessels and recently provided four 12V32/44CR engines to CMHI for a major semi-submersible project. We look forward to working with our partners again in the commissioning of such a noteworthy vessel that truly begins a new era for the offshore installation sector.”
Jan De Nul Group is a world leader in dredging and offshore technology and operates a modern and versatile fleet of dredging and offshore-installation vessels that currently features over 90 MAN engines.
Unique features
MAN Energy Solutions states that several of the 32/44CR’s unique features were important in it being choosen for the project.
Accordingly, the engines will be delivered with the company’s innovative ECOMAP feature. The CR-system’s flexibility permits the engine to be programmed to run along different fuel-consumption-versus-power characteristics, with each having its efficiency optimum at a different load point.
Another key 32/44CR characteristic is that high engine-output is available even at high ambient temperatures, as well as at the high exhaust-gas back-pressures resulting from the extensive exhaust-gas treatment equipment, which is mandatory for the ULEv notation.
New generation
Les Alizés’ genesis stems from the global trend within the offshore wind-energy segment for increasingly larger wind turbines. These can be more than 270 metres high – with blades up to 120 metres long – and can be mounted on foundations weighing up to 2,500 tonnes: dimensions that current offshore installation vessels have trouble installing.
Les Alizés will be in a super-size class of its own, capable of building the next generation of offshore wind farms but whose crane – with a lifting capacity of 5,000 tonnes and equally impressive lifting heights – also renders her capable of decommissioning offshore oil and gas platforms.
