News: Alternative Power

Swiss marine power company WinGD says it has completed both Type Approval Testing (TAT) and Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) for its ammonia-fueled two-stroke marine engine, marking what it described as a world first.

The tests were completed in January 2026 on the X52DF-A-1.0 engine at the Engine & Machinery Division of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI-EMD) in South Korea, witnessed by Lloyd’s Register together with representatives from major classification societies and under the supervision of EXMAR.

The 52-bore engine is scheduled to be installed on a 46,000 m3 LPG/ammonia carrier ordered for EXMAR. According to WinGD, the vessel series is expected to become the first ammonia-fueled gas carriers to enter commercial service, representing an important step in the shipping industry’s decarbonization efforts. The company said the development program demonstrated strong safety, reliability and performance results under a fuel pathway widely viewed as one of the more promising zero-carbon options for long-distance marine transport.

WinGD said the X-DF-A engine uses high-pressure ammonia injection with a pilot fuel dose of around 5% at full load, while delivering load handling, dynamic response and fuel efficiency comparable to equivalent diesel-fueled X-Engines in both ammonia and diesel modes. The company also said emissions results were encouraging, including NOx levels during ammonia operation that were below those generated in diesel use, alongside negligible contribution of N2O to the overall greenhouse gas emissions footprint. WinGD added that it has already secured an early orderbook of around 30 X-DF-A engines across multiple vessel segments.

Source: WinGD

Many alternative-fuel projects still sit at the concept or pilot stage. This one is different because it was executed on an engine destined for an actual commercial vessel program, under classification-society supervision and in cooperation with a yard ecosystem that can industrialize the result.