MAN Energy Solutions, a German-Danish engine manufacturer, is pushing forward the ship retrofitting solution as one of the key decarbonization methods in the maritime industry.
The Global Maritime Forum believes half of the vessels on the water need to be retrofitted if shipping is to fully decarbonize by 2050. The retrofitting solution simply means upgrading a vessel’s technology to enable it to run on low or zero-emission fuels.
Retrofitting operations have been relatively limited so far, but according to Shipping Watch, MAN Energy Solutions expects to receive at least 20 container ships for retrofitting in the next three months. This is an acceleration to the relatively slow market, “which so far has been limited to relatively few gas vessels,” writes Shipping Watch.
”We see massive interest and expect to close several projects sometime this year. These concern customers that want to make use of an asset that has already been invested in, upgrading it so that it can use new fuels that are either CO2-neutral or that emit less CO2,” states Klaus Dahmcke Rasmussen, head of Projects and PVU Sales, MAN PrimeServ Copenhagen.
The retrofitting of a ship depends to a certain level on the type of low-emission fuel the ship will be upgraded to use. According to MAN Energy Solutions, container carriers are the most eager to retrofit their fleet.
”Container carriers can pass the bill directly on to customers. Tanker and bulk carriers cannot do that to the same extent. We see some interest from parts of the dry bulk industry where especially mining companies are urging carriers, but these still need an instrument that allows to pass on the bill,” Dahmcke Rasmussen tells Shipping Watch.
Container carriers seem to be mostly interested in making their ships methanol ready. Nevertheless, experts at MAN believe ammonia will gain more ground as of 2027. During retrofitting, the existing engine is redesigned, some components are replaced, and a new system is installed to enable dual-fuel propulsion.
