Wärtsilä to supply LNG dual-fuel engines for French ferries

Finnish engine maker Wärtsilä will supply LNG dual-fuel engines and fuel supply systems for French operator La Méridionale's upcoming two RoPax ferries.

PHOTO: A model of La Méridionale’s LNG-powered RoPax vessel. La Méridionale

The vessels will be able to use LNG or conventional marine fuels for propulsion.

Wärtsilä will provide two 12-cylinder, one 10-cylinder, and one 8-cylinder engines to each of the vessels. It will also provide fuel gas supply systems for the newbuilds. The equipment will be delivered by mid-2025.

The 180-metre-long RoPax (roll-on/roll-off passenger) ferries will be built at the China Merchants Jinling Shipyard (Weihai) and will start operating between the French cities of Marseille and Corsica by the first half of 2027. The ferries will be able to accommodate 1,000 passengers and cargo freight, Wärtsilä said.

La Méridionale, a subsidiary of French shipping giant CMA CGM, also aims to run these vessels on alternative fuels such as biogas and synthetic or e-methane when they become available at scale.

Both e-methane and LNG are methane molecules that are produced in different ways. It is possible to use e-methane as a drop-in fuel in LNG-capable vessels without the need for any modifications. It can replace LNG as a bunker fuel to significantly lower a vessel’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

LNG can curb carbon dioxide emissions by about a quarter compared to conventional bunker fuels. But its methane emissions can be 36 times more potent as a greenhouse gas (GHG) compared to carbon dioxide over a century, according to a World Bank study.

By Aparupa Mazumder 

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