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Wartsila has been contracted to supply the exhaust gas cleaning systems for two new 56,000-deadweight-tonne (dwt) Handymax bulk carriers.

The ships are being built at Oshima Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. in Japan for Tokyo-based NYK Bulk & Projects Carriers Ltd. (NYK BP), a wholly owned subsidiary of shipping firm Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line).

Wartsila is to also provide project management and commissioning of the systems. The order was booked in June.

These are set to be the first vessels owned or chartered by NYK Group with exhaust gas cleaning systems installed. It is also Wartsila's first scrubber supply order from any Japanese company.

Earlier this year, NYK senior executive Noriko Miyamoto was cited as saying that the installation of scrubbers "can only be done on selected vessels" as the process was "expensive and it eliminates cargo space".

By fitting the Wartsila system, the two new ships will be able to run on marine fuel with a sulphur content above 0.5 percent when the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) global sulphur cap come into force in January 2020.

"We are pleased and proud to be the supplier of choice for these two new ships, especially as it gives us an inroad into the Japanese market for exhaust gas cleaning solutions. The value proposition that Wartsila presented was clearly the deciding factor in the award of this contract," said Sigurd Jenssen, Director, Exhaust Gas Cleaning, Wartsila Marine Solutions.

"Together with Oshima Shipbuilding, we compared performance, price and fuel costs of similar products developed by other companies before choosing Wartsila's scrubber system," an NYK BP representative said.

Wartsila's exhaust gas cleaning system equipment is scheduled for delivery to the yard in July 2018. The first vessel is due to be delivered to NYK in the fourth quarter of 2018, and the second in the first quarter 2019.

Image: The NYK BP Handymax bulk carriers which will be equipped with Wartsila scrubbers to be built at Oshima Shipyard. Image courtesy of NYK BP.