Wärtsilä Auxpac sets for Chinese heavy lifter

Wärtsilä delivered the first two Wärtsilä Auxpac generating sets in April 2005. Introduced in September 2004, Wärtsilä Auxpac is a standard, pre-commissioned generating set designed to provide auxiliary electricity onboard marine vessels. The new concept, with its key advantages of fast and easy installation, proven reliability, and easy maintenance, has already proved highly popular. To date Wärtsilä has more than 200 Wärtsilä Auxpac generating sets on order, some 70 of which are destined for China.

The first two Wärtsilä Auxpac 20 generating sets, both of 6-cylinder configuration, were supplied from the Wärtsilä factory in Vaasa, Finland to Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co Ltd, China, for installation on a new 4,000-tonne heavy-lifting ship being built at the Jing Jiang Eastern Shipyard for Guangzhou Salvage Bureau (under MOC). The vessel measures 167.5 m long overall, 165 m long BP, 48 m in breadth, and 16 m deep, with a draught of 11.5 m. The heavy lifter will be delivered in April 2006. Several other Chinese companies are reported to be considering building similar vessels.

Wärtsilä will also deliver three 6-cylinder Wärtsilä 32 main engines for diesel-electric propulsion for the same vessel as well as two Lips steerable thrusters of 1,500 kW each for propulsion running in Lips HR nozzles, and one Lips tunnel thruster.