South Korea’s shipbuilding giant Hyundai Heavy Industries, an affiliate of HD Hyundai, announced today that it has become the world’s first company whose cumulative production of two-stroke marine engines exceeds 200 million horsepower output.
The company held a ceremony to mark the occasion at its Ulsan-based engine assembly plant earlier today, marking the occasion with starting of a two-stroke ship engine (8G95ME-LGIM), intended for Maersk’s methanol-powered 16,000 TEU containership. The engine will have 74,720 horsepower, and it will be able to run on both methanol and conventional diesel fuel. It is also equipped with a low-flashpoint fuel supply system (LFSS) developed by Korea Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (KSOE).
Maersk’s newly ordered boxships will run on MAN ES methanol engines MAN B&W G95ME-C10.5-LGIM.
The latest milestone comes 44 years since Hyundai Heavy Industries produced its first large engine in 1979.
Hyundai Heavy Industries said that its global market share for large two-stroke engines was 36% as of 2022, adding that the company has maintained its No. 1 position in the market for 34 years since 1989. This means that about 4 out of 10 newly ordered ships will be equipped with engines made by Hyundai Heavy Industries.
The shipbuilder is also bolstering its eco-friendly engine portfolio in preparation for the carbon-neutral era. In 2012, the company developed the world’s first ‘dual fuel engine package’, and in 2015, the company built the first methanol-fueled large engine, followed by the world’s first super-large methanol engine.
Currently, more than 60% of the large engines that Hyundai Heavy Industries won are powered by fuels such as LNG, LPG, methanol, and ethane.
In addition, in December of last year, HHI succeeded in demonstrating the performance of a 1.5MW class LNG/hydrogen hybrid engine (HiMSEN) developed by proprietary technology.
The LNG/hydrogen engine selectively uses diesel fuel and an LNG/hydrogen mixture, resulting in significantly lower emissions of various harmful exhaust gases such as sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, and fine dust, HHI said.
Hyundai Heavy Industries holds the No. 1 position in the medium-sized marine engine market (4-stroke) with a global market share of more than 30%.
In August 2000, after 10 years of research, the company launched its ‘HiMSEN Engine’. Since 2011, Hyundai Heavy Industries has been producing 100% of its proprietary medium-sized engines, instead of licensed products from overseas companies, and achieved a cumulative production of 10,000 units in 2016.
“Over the past 40 years, Hyundai Heavy Industries has played a pivotal role in helping Korea stand tall as the world’s best shipbuilding powerhouse by manufacturing high-quality engines,” said Han Ju-seog , CEO of HHI’s Engine & Machinery Division, voicing hope that this trend will continue in the future as well.