FINLAND Wärtsilä grows capacity and capability
WÄRTSILÄ'S businesses continue to thrive amid the surge in the shipping and shipbuilding industries worldwide and the company has taken advantage of the trend by expanding rapidly over the last 12 months.
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HE operating income of all Wärtsilä's businesses has grown by 29.3% over the
past year. According to the company, 1720 newbuilding ship orders had been placed by the end of September 2006, 33% of them in China, 29% in South Korea, 16% in Europe and 12% in Japan. The growth figures of sales and order intake
within the Ship Power business increased 16.4% and 35.5% respectively in the third quarter compared to the figures from a year before. In the period from January to September order intake amounted to €1.651 billion, 54.3% ahead of the position a year earlier (€1.07 billion). The orderbook within Ship Power was €2.8 billion. A licence agreement with the Brazilian
company NUCLEP to strengthen Wärtsilä's position in South-America's low-speed engine market was signed in January 2006. In February Wärtsilä acquired Aker Kvaerner Power and Automation Systems, which supplies power and automation systems for the oil and gas, marine and industrial markets. It operates mainly in the North Sea region with major oil and gas companies and Norwegian shipyards. An alliance was also formed between Wärtsilä Automation Norway and the US company Emerson Process Management, increasing Wärtsilä’s capabilities in process automation for floating production storage and offloading vessels. Also in February 2006, Singapore-based
Total Automation was acquired. In addition to general marine automation, Total Automation has a strong foothold within the offshore and LNG sectors. The company focuses on refit projects and service work, enabling Wärtsilä to provide comprehensive automation services. Wärtsilä also acquired the machining capacity
of Diesel Technology Solutions BV (DTS) in The Netherlands. Other investments in the service sector in
2006 included a joint venture with Estonian BLRT Grupp operating in the Baltic area. The Ciserv service companies within Wärtsilä were also integrated into the company's worldwide service organisation. In July Wärtsilä acquired the German service company INTEC Injectortechnic. The acquisition enhances Wärtsilä’s capabilities in fuel injection technology and services.
Schiffco boosts system integration If all this were not enough, in December Wärtsilä announced it would acquire German ship design group Schiffco. The Hamburg-based, previously privately owned company has annual net sales totalling about €4m and a staff of 25 plus a network of external designers. Schiffco is specialised in designing container ships, research vessels and
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The first 14-cylinder Wärtsilä RT-flex96C marine engine is the biggest ever built. It has a maximum continuous power output of 80,080kW (108,920bhp) at 102rpm, measuring 27.3m in length and 13.5m in height, with an overall weight of 2300tonnes.
various offshore vessels and provides consultancy services and project management and supervision tasks for shipowners and shipyards. It has a strong market position and reputation in these segments. The acquisition supports Wärtsilä’s strategic
focus to grow as a systems integrator and provider of total solutions to the shipping and shipbuilding market, according to Jaakko Eskola, group vice president, ship power, Wärtsilä Corp. He said that the acquired business added ship design expertise to Wärtsilä’s wide product and service offering and supported the development of Wärtsilä’s low- speed engine business in Asia and especially in the Chinese market. As a part of Wärtsilä, Schiffco's design business,
its customers and employees will be able to offer enhanced opportunities, according to Berend Pruin, chairman of Schiffco and chief representative of its shareholders. With its 50 years experience in the marine
field, Schiffco has been involved in more than 2500 ship design projects globally. The group of companies acquired by Wärtsilä includes Schiffco GmbH Forschung und Entwicklung maritimer Systeme and Schiffco GmbH Multifunktionales Ingenieurbüro als Maritimes Innovationszentrum. Albrecht Delius, managing director of Schiffco
toldThe Naval Architect that the typical tasks of the company related to newbuilding projects, starting from initial designs up to the supply of complete design documents for fabrication, and sometimes even the finding and selection of suitable building yards. For these tasks Schiffco prepared the full set of technical and commercial tender documents and made neutral evaluations of incoming shipyard bids. ‘Apart from our design work we today perform also extensive design optimisation to owner's and
user's requirements on designs done elsewhere, plan approval work, construction supervision, acceptances and project management on behalf of the owners,’ he said. As recent examples, Mr. Delius mentioned a seismic survey vessel designed on behalf of an Indian customer under construction in Far East Russia, eight 6800TEU container vessels for a Middle East Liner company to be built in South Korea, and five offshore support vessels for a government organisation in UAE being built off Singapore. Currently Schiffco is also designing for and
consulting an Italian offshore company and a Dubai construction firm for two different high- performance pipe laying vessels. It is also providing consultancy and conceptual design support to a state owned offshore company in the Middle East Gulf for a new 4400t heavy lift/pipe laying vessel, to be constructed under its supervision in China. On the commercial ship side, Mr Delius said that
more than 120 ships have been constructed or are on order to the Schiffco CV 1100 PLUS container feeder vessel design. ‘We are most proud that the type has become the most common container vessel ever,’ he said. The company is now working on new container ships ranging between 1300TEU to 7300TEU and is also making design studies for even bigger vessels of up to 12000TEU. The intention is also to penetrate markets with various other types of dry or liquid cargo vessels. Schiffko has closely collaborated with Wärtsilä in the past on many different projects integrating large 2-stroke engines, various 4- stroke main engines or auxiliary sets, thrusters or propellers, or complete solution packages into the ship designs based on owners' requirements.
THE NAVAL ARCHITECT FEBRUARY 2007
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