First orders booked for Wartsila 82 series

Wärtsilä’s licensed enginebuilders have in recent months booked orders for 52 of Wärtsilä’s new series of 82-cm bore low-speed marine engines with an aggregate power of 1,726 MW. The engines were introduced to the market in the end of 2005.

Orders for the new 82-cm bore engines have thus taken off with them being contracted for the propulsion of panamax-sized container ships and large tankers such as VLCCs for which they are specifically designed. Four engine types of the same 82-cm bore, the RT-flex82C, RTA82C, RT-flex82T and RTA82T types, are being developed by Wärtsilä Corporation. The first RT-flex82C engine is planned to begin testing in mid 2008, in cooperation with Hyundai Heavy Industries, Korea.

The four engine types, the RT-flex82C, RTA82C, RT-flex82T and RTA82T, are being developed on the basis of a common platform with as many parts

as possible being shared to bring benefits of rationalisation in the design and manufacturing, lowering manufacturing costs, and rationalising also spare parts stocks. The new Wärtsilä RT-flex82C and RT-flex82T engine types bring the benefits of both the electronically-controlled RT-flex common-rail system and up-to-date parameters to deliver optimum propulsion plants for the envisaged ship types.

The ‘-C’ versions are intended to be ideal prime movers for container ships of panamax size with capacities up to around 5000 TEU and service speeds typically of about 24 knots. They will have a stroke of 2646 mm and will be available with six to twelve cylinders to cover a power range of 21,720 kW to 54,240 kW at 87 to 102 rev/min.

The ‘-T’ versions will have a stroke of 3375 mm to suit the optimum shaft speeds for the propulsion of large tankers, VLCCs and ULCCs of 200,000 dwt to more than 350,000 dwt. The engines will be built with six to nine cylinders to cover a power range of 21,720 kW to 40,680 kW at 68 to 80 rev/min.

A particular feature of these 82-cm bore engines is their novel extended layout field whereby the power/speed ranges of the engines are extended to higher speeds at ratings R1+ and R2+ with the same powers as the usual R1 and R2 ratings. The extended fields offer widened flexibility to select the most efficient propeller speed for lowest daily fuel consumption. This widened layout flexibility is already proving beneficial in ship projects.