Wärtsilä books major ship power contracts

Vassilis Papakalodoukas, CEO of Ciner Shipping Industry & Trading Inc.( left), and Martin Wernli, Managing Director of Wärtsilä Switzerland and Vice President, Wärtsilä Ship Power, two-stroke.

DECEMBER 9, 2013 — Wärtsilä today reported two major engine contracts. Four post panamax 9,000 TEU containerships ordered at Hanjin’s Subic Bay shipyard, plus an option ship, will each be powered by an 8-cylinder Wärtsilä X92 engine. And six new 38,000 dwt chemical tankers (plus two option ships) being built at the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group yard in China for Stolt Tankers will have Wärtsilä propulsion packages that include Wärtsilä RT-flex50 two-stroke engines, controllable pitch propellers with a tunnel gearbox and shaft generator, and oily water separators.

The 9,000 TEU containerships to are being built for the Ciner Group, based inTurkey, and the engine contract was signed at its offices in Istanbul today by Vassilis Papakalodoukas, CEO of Ciner Shipping Industry & Trading Inc., and Martin Wernli, Managing Director of Wärtsilä Switzerland and Vice President, Wärtsilä Ship Power, two-stroke.

The choice of the Wärtsilä X92 engine was based on its particularly high efficiency and environmental performance.

“The 9000 TEU containerships that have recently been contracted with HHIC, and which are being powered by Wärtsilä X92 engines, incorporate one of the most fuel efficient and environmentally advanced container ship designs available on the market today,” said Mr. Papakalodoukas. “We are proud to be in a position to be operating such ECO-type containerships, which will contribute to the well-being of our society and our charterers.”

The Wärtsilä X92 engine, introduced last year to server the market for containerships of 8,000  TEU and above has a cylinder bore of 920 mm and provides a power output of 25,860 to 70,200 kW. It is available in 6 to 12 cylinder configurations. The Wärtsilä X92 is fully compliant with IMO Tier II requirements. It can also be equipped with an SCR catalyst to meet IMO Tier III NOx emission levels, and a scrubber to reduce SOx emissions to 0.1% – even with high sulfur fuels.

STOLT TANKERS

The chemical tankers on order at Hudong-Zhonghua “have been designed to deliver substantial improvements in fuel efficiency, and are expected to consume significantly less fuel compared with existing parcel tankers,” says Niels G. Stolt-Nielsen, CEO of Stolt-Nielsen Limited.

Each of the tankers will be 185 m in length, with a 32.26 m beam and will have 43 stainless steel tanks with a total volume of 44,000 cu.m. The ships will have IMO I, II and III capabilities and will be able to handle the full range of difficult-to-handle cargoes that Stolt Tankers carries.

The first of the new 38,000 dwt tankers is expected to be delivered in December 2015.