China’s Yiu Lian shipyard is moving forward with works converting BW’s first VLGC to LPG dual-fuel propulsion.
The BW Gemini left the yard’s drydock and is ready for commissioning and gas trials, BW LPG, a unit of the Singapore-based gas shipping giant, said on Monday.
When complete, the 2015-built BW Gemini would become the world’s first vessel with LPG dual-fuel propulsion technology onboard, the firm claims.
To remind, Yiu Lian is converting in total 12 very large gas carriers for BW’s LPG unit.
BW LPG expects the works to take about two months per vessel with the last retrofit scheduled to complete in the second half of 2021.
The company will invest over $100 million in upgrading a part of its fleet to LPG dual-fuel propulsion as it looks to comply with the new IMO rules and slash emissions.
BW LPG owns and operates a fleet of 46 VLGCs, with an average age of 8.7 years.