By the end of 2028, Russia plans to create the first prototype of a low-speed marine engine for vessels with a displacement of over 20 thousand tons. The project is being implemented within the framework of cooperation between enterprises of the United Shipbuilding Corporation with the participation of engineering centers in St. Petersburg and the design and technological bureau being formed in Bryansk.
The contract for the development of key components was signed on February 13 between a subsidiary of USC and the St. Petersburg engineering center, which has competencies in the field of power plants. The Bryansk bureau will join the project, which will complete its formation by the end of 2025.
Initially, the engine will run on diesel and heavy fuel oil, but the design provides for adaptation to natural gas in the serial version. In the future, modernization for ammonia and methanol is possible. As Nadezhda Malysheva, Development Director of the PortNews analytical agency, explained, the choice in favor of a dual-fuel scheme is due to both the economics of transportation and the requirements of the International Maritime Organization to reduce emissions.
The transition to gas reduces emissions of sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and particulate matter, which is especially important for gas carriers and vessels operating in environmentally sensitive waters. Experiments are also underway with methanol, which provides zero sulfur emissions, but traditional oil fuels still retain their positions, provided that scrubbers are used to clean exhaust gases.
