Products & services

Wärtsilä to support sustainable operations on Viking Line’s new climate-smart flagship

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Products & services Products & services

Published: 01 March 2022 01 March 2022

The technology group Wärtsilä will provide technical management for a broad scope of solutions installed on Viking Line’s new Viking Glory under a three-year contract. The agreement was signed in December 2021.

Viking Glory began its first commercial sailing today. It features many cutting-edge technologies intended to minimise climate impact and air pollution. The new agreement covers six LNG-powered Wärtsilä 31DF engines, two LNGPac fuel gas supply systems and three tunnel thrusters.

The Technical Management Agreement (TMA) covers maintenance planning for the above Wärtsilä equipment, as well as on-demand remote operational and technical support. Also included is Wärtsilä Expert Insight, giving unique visibility into engine health, allowing advanced diagnostics and real-time optimisation of the performance and emissions.

“Viking Glory is a flagship for climate-smart technology and encapsulates our group ambition to be a forerunner of responsible navigation,” said Jan Hanses, CEO, Viking Line. “Wärtsilä’s technical support as well as its technologies will help us achieve this vision.”

“Wärtsilä is delighted to continue the collaboration with Viking Line on their new flagship,” said Henrik Wilhelms, Director, Agreement Sales, Wärtsilä Marine Power. “A vessel designed to minimise emissions is just the start. Successful maintenance and technical support is needed to keep equipment and the vessel operating at top efficiency and ensure the lowest possible carbon footprint in the future. This strong collaboration will ensure that Viking Glory delivers on its promise.”

Wärtsilä’s support for Viking Glory joins its long-term Optimised Maintenance Agreement for engines and other Wärtsilä equipment on Viking Grace, another highly sustainable vessel launched ten years ago. Although Viking Grace is smaller – at 218m rather than 222m length and 32m beam rather than 35m – Viking Glory will use 10% less fuel because of the advanced technologies installed.

Optimised maintenance and technical management agreements form an essential pillar of Wärtsilä’s Lifecycle Agreements offering, helping to secure cost-effective and emissions-compliant operations across the lifecycle of customers’ vessels.

Other Wärtsilä equipment on the vessel includes the Aquarius UV ballast water management system, Nacos Platinum navigation system and dynamic positioning system.

Viking Glory will sail between Turku in Finland and Stockholm in Sweden from March 2022.

VesselsValue expands their Green data offering with launch of vessel Energy Efficiency ratings

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Products & services Products & services

Published: 17 February 2022 17 February 2022

Leading data provider, VesselsValue, are proud to announce their latest Green product that allows clients to access, customise and compare vessels’ Energy Efficiency ratings.

This latest feature combines VV’s extensive shipping data with the IMO’s framework to calculate the Energy Efficiency score for an individual vessel, whether existing (EEXI) or a newbuild (EEDI). It is available across Bulkers, Tankers and Containers, with the flexibility to customise inputs to recalculate a vessel's EEDI or EEXI score and compare ratings across fleets.

Expanding suite of Green related data

In addition to Energy Efficiency ratings, clients of VesselsValue can; 

Search and filter by Green vessel specifications including Engine, Propulsion and Fuel type, Hull design, Energy Saving Devices, Green awards and IHM Green passport, BWTS, Scrubber and previous employment in Renewable activity. 

View and analyse Offshore Renewable projects and ECAs, as well as track specific vessel activity within these.

 Commenting on the launch, Tom Evans, Chief Operating Officer at VesselsValue said:

"As the world moves towards decarbonisation, our Energy Efficiency ratings provide a transparent, automated and accurate measure of how Green a vessel is. This product, when combined with our 8 Tier Ownership and Transactions databases, enables users to aggregate and compare Energy Efficiency across multiple fleets, geographies, trades or portfolios.”

Adding to this, Adrian Economakis, Chief Strategy Officer, commented:

“Our clients, including major banks, funds, owners, operators or charterers, have a genuine desire to monitor, report on and maximise vessels’ Energy Efficiency to comply with and exceed regulations. We are proud to be able to assist our clients on their path to decarbonisation and will continue to invest heavily in developing more Green related products.”

Steerprop expands its worldwide presence by establishing a subsidiary in North America

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Products & services Products & services

Published: 20 February 2022 20 February 2022

Maritime propulsion specialist Steerprop enhances its customer support by strengthening its presence in the North American market. By establishing a subsidiary in Houston, Texas, Steerprop ensures the level of service its customers have grown to rely on.

The investment, which also includes building substantial warehouse facilities in addition to proprietary 24/7 sales and maintenance services, aims specifically at covering the needs and requirements of North American customers with local, comprehensive know-how and expertise.

“Our local presence in North America allows us to ensure the high standard customer experience which Steerprop is known for. Serving customers with our resolve to perform, starting from the design phase, up to maintenance of the vessel, guarantees a fit-for-purpose solution that the customer needs and deserves,” says Steerprop’s CEO Riku-Pekka Hägg.

Steerprop is committed to providing uncompromised service throughout the running-up period of Steerprop North America’s subsidiary’s operations. To ensure this, experienced service specialist Southern Thrusters LLC, based in Houma, Louisiana, was chosen as Steerprop’s subcontracting service partner in the United States and Mexico. This co-operation has been up-and-running since January 2022.

During the running-up period, original Steerprop spare parts will continue to be provided by the company’s warehouse in Finland without any disruption. In 2022, as Steerprop begins its operation in North America, the company ensures even more flexible availability for spare parts.

Valmet tests a scrubber and wet electrostatic precipitator combination and cuts exhaust gas emissions from marine diesel by up to 99%

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Products & services Products & services

Published: 17 February 2022 17 February 2022

The Finnish engineering group Valmet has tested a first-of-a-kind scrubber and wet electrostatic precipitator combination and cut exhaust gas emissions in a marine diesel engine by up to 99%. The solution could allow shipping companies to lower their particle matter and black carbon emission levels, tackle global warming and comply with tightening regulation. The pilot testing and configuration project was carried out together with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd (VTT).

Valmet has tested a first-of-a-kind scrubber and wet electrostatic precipitator combination and cut exhaust gas emissions in a marine diesel engine by up to 99%. The solution could allow shipping companies to lower their particle matter and black carbon emission levels, tackle global warming and comply with tightening regulation. The pilot testing and configuration project was carried out together with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd (VTT).

Up to date, International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) regulations on air pollution have addressed mainly SOx and NOx emissions but the awareness of particle matter and black carbon emissions is growing due to their negative impact on global warming and human health. Whereas SOx scrubbers can reduce particulate matter and black carbon emissions with limited efficiency, a combination of a wet scrubber and a wet electrostatic precipitator could capture these emissions almost completely from a ship’s exhaust gas.

“At VTT, we had already studied the emissions of ships that have a marine scrubber installed. This way we had experience of the challenging measurement conditions related to scrubbers and also comparable data on the emission reduction potential of the new setup,” says VTT’s Senior Scientist Kati Lehtoranta.

Additionally, VTT had a medium-speed diesel engine that runs on heavy fuel oil, the equipment for demanding pilot tests, top experts and the scientific know-how to publish the test results.

“The solution we tested brings so many benefits that we believe it has great potential. Emission regulations are bound to tighten in the upcoming years. Valmet now has a solution that can be installed both on newbuilds and already operating vessels that still use conventional fuels. That enables shipping companies to significantly reduce particle emissions, while continuing their operation normally,” says Juha Jokiluoma, Product Manager at Valmet.