Wärtsilä has received a major order for 24 engines from the Korean shipyard Samsung Heavy Industries at the end of March. Wärtsilä 50DF dual-fuel engines will be installed in six LNG carriers. Four of the ships were ordered by AP Møller of Denmark and two by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (“K” Line) of Japan.
The engines will deliver a total combined power of 239.4 MW. In 2004 Wärtsilä supplied medium-speed marine engines with a total output of 1,474 MW.
Delivery of the engines from Wärtsilä’s factory in Trieste, Italy, will commence in January 2007 and the first ship will be completed in the first half of 2008.
“The intensive cooperation between Samsung and Wärtsilä since 2001 to find innovative solutions for LNG carrier propulsion is now bearing fruit in the form of concrete orders, and more orders can be expected,” says Mr CY Kim, Vice President, Design Engineering at Samsung Heavy Industries. “Dual-fuel-electric machinery offers significant efficiency and environmental benefits in comparison to steam turbine machinery. This is the main reason why “K” Line has chosen dual-fuel-electric machinery,” says Mr Joichi Sasaki, Manager, Gas Carrier Technical Team at “K” Line.
“The fact that five shipowners and three shipyards have now committed themselves to Wärtsilä solutions for LNG carriers shows that we have established a firm footing in a market previously dominated by competing technology,” says Mr Mikael Mäkinen, Executive Vice President at Wärtsilä.
Wärtsilä has now received orders for dual-fuel-electric machinery for 13 LNG carriers, a total of 52 engines.
Further information:
Ms Eeva Kainulainen, Vice President, Corporate Communications, tel. +358 10 709 5235.
