WinGD to power Dynacom’s $1.47bn dozen-VLCC order

Engine builder WinGD has won a contract to supply main engines for twelve very large crude carriers being built for George Prokopiou's Dynacom at China's Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding. The ship order, announced at the start of June and priced at around $1.47bn for the dozen vessels, fits each tanker with scrubbers and selective catalytic reduction systems, with first delivery due in October 2027.

Every ship will run on a single WinGD 6X82-2.0 low-speed engine, which the company says meets IMO emissions requirements when paired with the scrubber and SCR package. WinGD's general manager for global sales, Carmelo Cartalemi, pointed to fuel efficiency, reliability and operational performance as the priorities driving owner decisions, and noted that retrofit and upgrade pathways are in development.

The award lands amid a remarkable surge in VLCC ordering. Broker EA Gibson has said more than 120 of the ships have been contracted this year, breaking the annual record for the segment, with newbuildings climbing from around 5% of the fleet in early 2024 to roughly 35% by the middle of June 2026.

Alternative-fuel VLCCs remain a rarity, with only a handful of LNG-powered ships and even fewer running on methanol, leaving conventional engines paired with emissions-control equipment as the mainstream choice for owners renewing the crude tanker fleet at pace.