The first steel has been cut at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HD HHI) in Ulsan for the two first hulls in Solvang’s Panamax VLGC newbuilding series planned for delivery in 2026 and 2027.
In all, seven of the 88,000m3 vessels have been ordered from HD HHI. The newbuildings will have hull eco lines, and the Solvang eco package will be fully implemented.
Unusually, the vessels will have single fuel engines, set up to run on HFO, low-sulphur fuel oil, MGO, bio-fuels, or e-fuels. They will be OCCS-ready, with Solvang’s total emission control system comprising low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation, hybrid exhaust gas cleaning (Wärtsilä scrubber), with water treatment in both open and closed loop, and electrostatic filter (WESP) which removes up to 95% of particles from the exhaust stream. The vessels have one extra deck to provide space for on-deck CO2 tanks, larger auxiliary engine and boiler capacity, as well as extra accommodation.
Solvang fleet director Tor Øyvind Ask said: “These vessels are built to comply with radical GHG emission requirements using onboard CSS, they maintain the competitive advantages of efficient conventional fuel operation, or they can operate on zero-emission e-fuels.”
Image: Steel cutting begins at HD HHI for Solvang’s first two eco-VLGCs (source: Solvang)
