North Sea fishing vessels to be Wärtsilä equipped

OCTOBER 30, 2014—Two 78m purser/trawler fishing vessels being designed and built at Karstensen Shipyard in Denmark will feature Wärtsilä main propulsion and control equipment. The ships have been contracted by Lunar Fishing, Peterhead, Scotland, and will operate in the North Sea.

Wärtsilä’s scope of supply for each vessel includes a 9 cylinder in-line Wärtsilä 32 engine, a two-speed gear with power take-off function (PTO), a Wärtsilä controllable pitch propeller 4E1095 complete with shaft line, seals and bearings, stern tube and high performance nozzle (HP-Nozzle) etc along with the new Wärtsilä Protouch propulsion control system.

The equipment for the first vessel will be delivered at the end of 2015, and for the second vessel in summer 2016.

Factors in the award of the contract included operating cost (OPEX) savings and high overall propulsion efficiency as a result of the combination of the well proven 580 kW/cyl Wärtsilä 32 engine with the two-speed gear solution Similarly, Wärtsilä’s latest technology propulsion control system ensures ease of operation and easy integration with other onboard systems. The touch screen control system was the winner of the prestigious Red Dot design award in 2013.

The Wärtsilä two-speed gear offers both economic and environmental benefits, particularly for fishing boats and other vessels having multiple operational modes or reduced transit speed.

The SCV 112/2 gear selected for the Lunar Fishing vessels is currently the largest in Wärtsilä’s two-speed gear portfolio. It features two gear ratio settings, which facilitates a reduced propeller speed at an optimal and constant engine speed. This allows the electric power generation for the PTO on the gear to remain uninterrupted in both trawling and transit modes, while maintaining high propeller efficiency at all times. Furthermore, the hydro-acoustic noise is reduced when operating at low propeller rpm, which improves the vessel’s fishing capabilities.

“These vessels will represent the state-of-art for fishing applications,” says Lunar Fishing skipper and vessel owner Alex Buchan. “The excellent fuel efficiency and operational flexibility that is made possible by the integrated Wärtsilä propulsion system will produce fuel cost savings and greater operating efficiency.

Lunar Fishing has been a Wärtsilä customer for more than 20 years, and its fleet incorporates a number of Wärtsilä propulsion solutions.