Engine manufacturer MAN Energy Solutions has signed a long-term service agreement (LTSA) with GIE Dragages- Ports for maintenance of its first LNG-fuelled dredger.
The Samuel de Champlain dredger is operated by Grand Port Maritime de Nantes Saint-Nazaire and operates in the Loire and Seine estuaries in the northwest of France. The vessel features MAN 6L35/44DF engines and has capacity for 8,500 cubic metres of LNG.
“Based on the experience we had with MAN Energy Solutions when converting the dredger, we wanted to renew our trust in the MAN Energy Solutions team that has a great deal of expertise,” Hubert Louys, Maintenance Manager for Dragages-Ports, said.
Optimised maintenance plans
The contract will see MAN PrimeServ, the firm’s after-sales service brand, supply spare parts and provide preventative-maintenance services for a provisional eight-year period.
“We are happy to continue our partnership on this project beyond the installation of the new engine, carried out in 2019. Work to optimise maintenance plans has since been carried out in close collaboration with GIE to ensure the dredger’s increased availability,” Jordan Morvan, Project Manager, MAN Energy Solutions France, said.
The vessel was initially converted from diesel to LNG with the installation of three MAN dual-fuel engines and was the first retrofit of its kind in Europe as well as the first French-flagged LNG-fuelled dredger.
MAN will now provide inspection kits and preventative maintenance services as well as remote assistance, via PrimeServ Assist, and engine-fluid analysis, via PrimeServ LAB.
Outstanding load capacity
The new contract highlights both partners commitment to LNG as a fuel of choice for heavy-lift operations.
“The MAN 35/44DF propulsion solution has exceptional performance criteria and a small environmental footprint. Its selection was due to certain, crucial characteristics,” a spokesperson for GIE Dragages-Ports said, emphasizing the ‘outstanding load capacity’ and the ability to ‘start in gas mode’ as well as dredge ‘continuously in gas mode’.
Headquartered in Rouen, France, GIE Dragages-Ports owns a fleet of seven dredgers, and conducts operations in eight major ports along France’s Atlantic, English Channel and North Sea coastlines.
