MAN engines to power next-gen offshore installation vessel

China Merchant Heavy Industry (CMHI) has ordered 6 × MAN 12V32/44CR main engines for Jan De Nul’s 5,000-tonne floating installation crane vessel Les Alizés.

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: “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.”

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 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, MAN said.

The engines for the vessel will be delivered with the MAN’s 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, the company said.

According to MAN, 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.

Les Alizés is specifically designed for loading, transporting, lifting, and installing offshore wind turbine foundations. The main features are a main crane of 5,000 tons, a deck loading capacity of 61,000 tons, and a deck space of 9,300 square metres.

Thanks to her dimensions and lifting and loading capacities, Les Alizés will be able to load out, transport, and install multiple units of the largest and heaviest wind turbine foundations, Jan De Nul said. In addition, as a crane vessel that floats, it will be able to install heavier and larger foundations into deeper waters and in more challenging seabed conditions.