NYK takes delivery of WinGD powered box ship

NYK Blue Jay on sea trials

APRIL 13, 2016 — Winterthur Gas & Diesel (WinGD) reports that shipbuilder Japan Marine United Corporation recently delivered the 14,000 TEU containership NYK Blue Jay.  

The vessel is the first of ten being built for Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) for operation on the Asia-European shipping lanes that are designed to be able to compete in terms of operating economy with larger new generation ultra large vessels of around 20,000 TEU capacity. Helping them achieve this is an advanced propulsion concept that includes a narrowly dimensioned engine room that allows a hull design with exceptional hydrodynamic efficiency.

Another significant contribution operating economy comes from the latest WärtsiläGeneration X two-stroke diesel engine, the 9-cylinder Wärtsilä X82 designed by WinGD in Winterthur, Switzerland, and manufactured by Diesel United Ltd. in Japan.

Specifically designed and developed by WinGD to meet shipowners’ demands for the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO), the Generation X diesel and dual-fuel engines are conceived for maximized vessel payloads combined with low fuel consumption and emissions and for rational, economic production by WinGD’s licensees.

“A holistic approach was taken when designing the Generation X engines,” says Rudolf Holtbecker, General Manager, Business & Application Development at WinGD. “It is designed to enable total vessel efficiency to be optimized by a careful combination of main engine parameters and efficiency, the propulsion system and the ship hull. The capability to run at lower engine speed fosters the higher efficiency of larger propellers. We took account of this in the engine design, like the Wärtsilä X82 used in the NYK Blue Jay, by employing higher stroke-to-bore ratios than in  predecessor ships. This not only facilitates the larger, slower turning propellers but also gives higher engine internal efficiency.”

Also helping the Wärtsilä X82 reduce TCO is its dual-rating feature. “

As we have seen in the recent past, shipowners wish to be able to respond to market conditions by having closer control over the fuel costs of their ships,” Mr. Holtbecker says. “In recent years this has led to owners operating their ships at lower speeds with engines running below their design ratings. With the X engines, the dual-rating option has been introduced to allow shipowners to use their engines either with a low or a high maximum power output, further improving fuel consumption in each operating mode without major modifications.”

The basis of the dual-rating feature of the X engines is WinGD’s “flex” system of electronically controlled fuel injection and exhaust valve actuation, combined with turbochargers with very wide compressor maps.

The sophisticated fuel injection and valve timing systems developed by WinGD allow the engine to be optimized for two different vessel operating profiles based primarily on changes of engine system settings. The owner thus has a tool to easily adapt the vessel speed for different market conditions, always ensuring the operation with the best possible performance and economy.