Five new Chinese container vessels to be powered by twenty Wärtsilä generating sets
Five new 14500 TEU container vessels being built for COSCO (China Ocean Shipping Group) will be powered by twenty Wärtsilä Auxpac 32 generating sets. The ships are under construction at the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group yard in China, which is a subsidiary of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation. The order was placed in January, 2015 with Wärtsilä’s joint venture company, Wärtsilä Yuchai Engine Co. Ltd (WYEC). The joint venture was established by Wärtsilä and Yuchai Marine Power Company at the end of 2012 and started production in the middle of 2014. It is the first order for generating sets placed with WYEC since the formation of the company. Delivery of the engines will commence in mid-2016, the company said in its press release.
The customer’s requirements for these container vessels were cited as being reliability, economic fuel consumption and high availability. The powerful Wärtsilä Auxpac 32 engine was deemed to be the most suitable solution for meeting these requirements.
“This is a very important order that marks the re-establishment of Wärtsilä generating sets within the container vessel market. The Wärtsilä Auxpac 32 engine with its excellent reliability and fuel efficiency is highly suited to this application. We are also very pleased to be working with COSCO, a company with whom we have enjoyed a long and successful cooperation and a major player in the industry,” says Mr Roger Holm, Senior Vice President, Wärtsilä Ship Power.
The deal is in line with Wärtsilä’s strong support of the important and world-leading Chinese shipbuilding market. WYEC serves this market with Wärtsilä’s well proven products and solutions, as well as with full service project management capabilities. WYEC is located in Zhuhai, in the Guangdong province of China. The joint venture company is fully aligned with China’s central government’s plan to significantly increase the locally produced content for marine equipment. The Wärtsilä Auxpac 32 engine is produced at the WYEC joint venture facilities.
