Wärtsilä and China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) have signed a Letter of Intent to establish a new joint venture company. The new joint venture will focus on China’s growing market for electrical & automation (E&A) solutions for marine applications.
The Letter of Intent was signed by Wärtsilä CEO Jaakko Eskola and Mr Wu Qiang, President of CSSC at a ceremony in Shanghai on March 16. The planned activities of the JV will include sales, marketing, engineering and project management for the E&A market. However, following the signing of the Letter of Intent, the full scope of the company’s operations will be further defined. The joint venture company is expected to be operational at the beginning of 2017.
Wärtsilä and CSSC are already partners in three joint venture companies. In 2004 they jointly formed Wärtsilä CME Zhenjiang Propeller Co Ltd (WCME), a company producing fixed and controllable pitch ship propellers. In 2014, CSSC Wärtsilä Engine (Shanghai) Co Ltd (CWEC) was established for the local production of medium and large bore, medium speed, diesel and dual-fuel Wärtsilä engines. In 2015 the two companies formed Winterthur Gas & Diesel (WinGD). WinGD has taken over the technical development and sales of Wärtsilä’s range of 2-stroke, low speed marine engines.