Wärts­i­lä to acce­le­ra­te Ste­na Line’s decar­bo­ni­sa­ti­on jour­ney through metha­nol conversions

As metha­nol is one of the key com­pon­ents of decar­bo­ni­sa­ti­on in the mari­ti­me indus­try, this con­tract will equip the ves­sels with unmat­ched fuel fle­xi­bi­li­ty, thus mar­king an important mile­stone in Ste­na Line’s jour­ney towards beco­ming a lea­der in sus­tainable ship­ping. The con­ver­si­ons will include the fuel sup­p­ly sys­tem and engi­ne modi­fi­ca­ti­ons, as well as inte­gra­ting the new instal­la­ti­ons with the ships’ exis­ting sys­tems. The con­tracts were boo­ked as order inta­ke by Wärts­i­lä in June 2023.

Con­ver­ting fer­ries for metha­nol fuel will enable them to be com­pli­ant with various exis­ting and upco­ming regu­la­ti­ons, inclu­ding the Car­bon Inten­si­ty Indi­ca­tor (CII), Fue­lEU Mari­ti­me, and IMO 2050 GHG reduc­tion target.

„As we con­ti­nue to imple­ment our stra­tegy to decar­bo­ni­se all our ope­ra­ti­ons, we see metha­nol as a via­ble alter­na­ti­ve fuel that will help us achie­ve this ambi­ti­on. Wärts­i­lä has pro­ven its capa­bi­li­ties to car­ry out the neces­sa­ry con­ver­si­ons. This was shown eight years ago when they con­ver­ted the Ste­na Ger­ma­ni­ca to ope­ra­te with metha­nol, and our expe­ri­ence from this ground-breaking inno­va­ti­on has been very posi­ti­ve,“ said Ian Hamp­ton of Ste­na Line.

„We have had clo­se coope­ra­ti­on with Ste­na Line for many years and we are plea­sed to be sup­port­ing them again in this important con­ver­si­on pro­ject. Like Ste­na Line, Wärts­i­lä is com­mit­ted to making decar­bo­nis­ed ship­ping ope­ra­ti­ons a rea­li­ty, and we have inves­ted hea­vi­ly in deve­lo­ping our engi­ne port­fo­lio to be capa­ble of uti­li­sing car­bon neu­tral and zero car­bon fuels,“ com­men­ted Roger Holm, Pre­si­dent of Wärtsilä’s Mari­ne Power business.

The full scope of Wärtsilä’s sup­p­ly packa­ge will include fuel tank instru­men­ta­ti­on and val­ves, trans­fer pumps, low pres­su­re pump skid, fuel val­ve trains, Metha­nol Fuel Pump Units and the auto­ma­ti­on of the sys­tem, engi­ne con­ver­si­ons, and auto­ma­ti­on upgrade for the engi­ne con­trol room.

The con­ver­si­ons are sche­du­led to take place in 2025.