Wärtsilä wins design and diesel electric contracts for Sartor newbuild

A multi-purpose offshore rescue and response vessel ordered by Norway’s Sartor Offshore AS at  the Bergen Group BMV shipyard is to be built to Wärtsilä VS465 design and will have a complete diesel electric drive installation supplied by Wärtsilä.

The ship will have a length of 74 meters and is specially designed for both emergency preparedness and rescue operations. Scheduled for delivery in the third quarter of next year, the ship will then go into a 10-year lease agreement with Statoil for operations in the North Sea.

Sartor has contracted the VS465 design from Wärtsilä Ship Design. The Bergen Group BMV shipyard has placed an order for the complete diesel electric propulsion system with Wärtsilä Ship Power. The scope of the machinery supply includes two Wärtsilä 6L32 and two Wärtsilä 6L20 generating sets, the electric and automation systems, the frequency drives, the gear and controllable pitch propeller, the tunnel thrusters, as well as a retractable thruster.

This will be the first installation of the Wärtsilä 32 engine with its power output increased from 500 to 575 kW/cylinder. The ship will also feature Wärtsilä’s Low Loss Concept (LLC), an energy efficient and highly redundant power distribution system for electric propulsion applications. The combination of the higher engine output and LLC means that fuel consumption and exhaust gas emissions will be minimized.

The new vessel will be the first to feature a so-called 4-split reliability on both the electrical (LLC) and mechanical side. The 4-split concept means that no single failure will result in more than a 25 percent loss of power or capability. In addition to increased reliability, this offers greater safety than traditional vessels that have a 2-split design, with a consequential risk of a 50 percent loss.

May 3, 2011