LR awards AiP for SDARI’s ammonia-fueled 8,200 TEU boxship design

June 10, 2024, by Fatima Bahtić

Classification society Lloyd’s Register (LR) has awarded approval in principle (AiP) to Chinese ship design company SDARI for an ammonia-powered 8,200 TEU containership design.

The design was developed in partnership with Swiss shipping giant MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company and MAN E&S, a subsidiary of German engine manufacturer MAN Energy Solutions (MAN ES).

The design includes a 73,000 cbm Type C tank ammonia containment system, with the ammonia tank fitted with a dome inside its tank connection space.

Furthermore, it features a MAN 6G80-C10.5 -LGIA ammonia-fueled engine, which has a high-pressure selective catalytic reduction (HP-SCR) system and is Tier II/Tier III compliant, according to LR.

“As the shipping industry looks more closely at ammonia as a future fuel option to reduce maritime greenhouse gas emissions, this joint development project between LR, SDARI, MSC and MAN E&S showcases the partners’ technical strengths and capability on containership and ammonia fuel designs,” Andy McKeran, LR Chief Commercial Officer, said.

“As a leading ship designer in the maritime industry, SDARI has been focusing on low carbon solutions together with our reliable partners. This JDP is an exciting one and offers a practical solution to the community which will help the fleet to reduce carbon emission significantly, and make shipping sustainable and successful. As always, SDARI will offer a competitive design and be a trustworthy partner to the industry during the journey to net-zero emissions,” Li Xin, Vice Director of SDARI, stated.

In a separate statement, LR revealed that, together with SDARI, it is developing a third generation, 64,500 dwt Dolphin bulk carrier.

The design, which focuses on maximizing deadweight, capacity and fuel energy efficiency, will feature novel hull lines and a Fan Duct & Fan Cap to support energy-saving devices, according to LR.

SDARI has reconfigured the arrangement for lightship weight to increase the deadweight and the structure and hull form are optimized for better ship performance, lower fuel consumption and to achieve the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) phase III.

“This project underscores the continued evolution of Ultramax bulk carrier design and the technical strength and capability of SDARI, one of China’s leading ship designers and a long-standing partner of LR. This design, which has attained an EEDI reduction of 40%, will help bulk carrier owners to better control their emissions, while owning and operating a highly competitive asset in the market,” Nikos Kakalis, Global Bulk Carrier Segment Director LR, commented.

“Comparing with the last generation of ‘Dolphin’ Ultramax, the deadweight is 1,000t more, and fuel oil consumption is around 20t/day. This generation can have a deadweight up to 66,000t and various alternative fuels solutions are ready. This means this new design will help ship owners to reduce their carbon emission and improve sustainability,” Li Xin, Vice-Director of SDARI, noted.