First RT-flex engine order for Hitachi

Hitachi Zosen joins the family of licencees of Wärtsilä Corporation to manufacture Wärtsilä RT-flex electronically-controlled common-rail marine engines.

Hitachi Zosen was awarded a contract in March 2007 by Wärtsilä Corporation to build four six-cylinder Wärtsilä RT-flex50-B engines for ships to be built in China. The first of the ships will be delivered in the second quarter 2009. The engines each have a maximum continuous power of 9960 kW at 124 rpm.

Hitachi, with its Ariake engine works in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, is the eleventh engine builder to manufacture Wärtsilä RT-flex electronically-controlled common-rail marine engines. The other engine builders are in South Korea, Japan, China, Italy, Croatia and Poland.

RT-flex engines are available in eight cylinder sizes covering a power range from 5,800 to 80,080 kW. The Wärtsilä RT-flex50-B is the smallest of these, providing prime movers of 5,800 to 13,280 kW ideally suited to the propulsion of bulk carriers in the Handymax to Panamax size range, product tankers and 900?1500 TEU feeder container vessels. The first RT-flex50 engine entered service in January 2006. The engine type has been very successful in the market with some 85 engines already sold.