HD Hyundai to supply methanol engines to Japanese shipmaker

South Korea's HD Hyundai Co. is supplying its first HiMSEN engine using methanol fuel to a Japanese shipmaker. This represents an acceleration in the development of methanol engines, considered a future environmentally friendly fuel.

According to industry sources on Friday, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' Engine Machinery Business Unit recently signed a contract with Tsuneishi Shipbuilding to supply the HiMSEN engine (8H32DF-LM) running on methanol as a dual fuel and a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) device for nitrogen oxides as a package.

This engine will be applied to a total of four container ships of 5,800 TEU (1 TEU equals 1 twenty-foot container). Delivery is scheduled for Jan. 2025 at Tsuneishi shipyard. The HiMSEN engine is a 5,400 horsepower power generator engine that can selectively use methanol and diesel fuel.

HD Hyundai is selling the HiMSEN engine not only in South Korea but also in China, Japan and Europe. Among them, the methanol-powered HiMSEN engine has received orders for 177 units for a total of 42 ships. The first methanol-powered HiMSEN engine was supplied to the 2,100 TEU container ship "Laura Maersk," built by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, a medium-sized shipbuilding subsidiary of Hyundai, under an order from Maersk.

"In the market for medium-sized engines for ships, HiMSEN engines boast a 28% share of the global market," an HD Hyundai source said. "As demand for environmentally friendly ships increases, we expect more orders for HiMSEN dual-fuel engines, the future fuel engines."

Write to Mi-Sun Kang at misunny@hankyung.com