A five vessel ‘Star’ series of container ships owned by Atlantic Container Line are operating with lower fuel and maintenance costs, thanks to the Wärtsilä shaft generators installed. The ships were commissioned and the sea trials successfully completed during 2015 and 2016 with the Wärtsilä shaft generators and step-up transformers each providing 2000 kW of active power feed to the mains. The result is reduced fuel consumption and lower maintenance costs, thanks to less use of the auxiliary engines.
The Wärtsilä shaft generator systems onboard the Atlantic Star series of container ships is definitely an advantage in terms of fuel savings. Indeed, considering the SFOC [g/kWh] difference between the shaft generators and the auxiliary engines, we expect to save around 1,2-1,5 mt/day at the vessel service speed. Furthermore, by reducing the auxiliary engine use, maintenance costs are also positively affected.
