Wärtsilä completes FPSO propeller job

FEBRUARY 18, 2014 — Wärtsilä says it has completed the technical design and installation of a new fixed pitch propeller (FPP)  for the Ngujima-Yin floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO).

The FPSO is operated by Woodside Energy in the Vincent offshore oil field in north-western Australia.

The 332 m Ngujima-Yin FPSO was previously converted from a double hulled tanker for operation as an FPSO. Such conversions, which include structural alterations and the installation of new production equipment, alter the specific parameters and operational characteristics of a vessel. For this reason, the propeller design needs to be optimized specifically for each vessel.

The design work carried out by Wärtsilä involved a pre-study of the existing propeller characteristics, 3D CAD modeling of the ship’s hull, a computational fluid dynamics analysis of the hull, and the design and manufacture of a 10,000 mm diameter FPP weighing approximately 66 tons.

The new solution was successfully installed in a Singapore shipyard.

The most important benefit of the new propeller is that it will increase the speed of the vessel.

The project was executed efficiently and on a fast-track by Wärtsilä. .

“This is a prime example of Wärtsilä working closely with its customer to produce a solution that meets the operational needs of a specialized vessel. It was a challenging project that involved a technical design and a short delivery time, especially considering the size and weight of the propeller,” says John Sydney, Managing Director, Wärtsilä Australia.