CSSC Wärtsilä Engine (Shanghai) Co. Ltd (CWEC) celebrated the commencement of its new factory construction with a ground breaking ceremony on October 28. The new 20,000 sq.m. facility is located at Lingang, Shanghai. Following the ground breaking ceremony, strategic cooperation agreements were signed between CWEC and the Hudong Zhonghua and Shanghai Waigaoqia (SWS) shipyards. These agreements will be instrumental in promoting the development of efficient ship designs and solutions that will meet the evolving needs of the yards’ ship owner customers. A Letter of Intent was also signed with SWS for the delivery in 2017 of Wärtsilä Auxpac 32 generating sets for three large container vessels being built at the yard.
The CWEC joint venture was established in July 2014 for the manufacture of medium and large bore, medium speed, diesel and dual-fuel Wärtsilä engines. The new factory will be the first in China capable of producing locally large bore medium speed diesel and dual-fuel engines. By being able to produce and deliver locally, the new joint venture will provide CSSC Group and other Chinese yards with closer access to the Wärtsilä range of engines with the benefits of faster delivery times and competitive pricing.
The products to be manufactured at the new facility will include the Wärtsilä 26, Wärtsilä 32, Wärtsilä 34DF, and Wärtsilä 46F engines, the first of which are expected to be ready for delivery in 2016. The production capacity is planned at 180 engines per year.
The CWEC joint venture will target especially the offshore and LNG markets, both of which are growing significantly in China, as well as the large container vessel segment. Wärtsilä’s share of the joint venture is 49 percent.