ABB is loaded with orders till 2020-2021, Marcus Högblom, Vice President, Passenger Ships & Azipod Segment at ABB Marine, told journalists visiting the Company’s assembly factory.
According to Mr. Högblom, the share of Russian projects in the backlog of ABB Marine is pretty big, particularly due to icebreakers and icebreaking vessels under Yamal LNG and Novy Port projects. “It is a very important share of our market”, he said.
The Company’s assembly factory based in Helsinki (Finland) is intended for assembling, outfitting and testing of Azipods. The facility features carefully controlled environment with humidity level and particles monitored. As of today, there are about 7 Azipods at the facility. All of them are for icebreakers, including those intended for Novy Port and Yamal projects.
It takes 4 to 6 weeks to assemble a pod, depending on its size and complexity, Marcus Högblom says. He added that, Yamal and Novy Port pods weighing more than 3,000 t are about the biggest ones done by the company so far.
“On a good year we can probably run up to 40 pods from this factory”, Mr. Högblom said.
ABB Marine and Ports numbers 1,700 employees in 22 countries. ABB Marine business is based on electric propulsion commonly used in cruise vessels, LNG tankers, off-shore vessels and icebreaking vessels due to reduced fuel consumption, lower emissions and increased pay-load.