Independents ?outlawed?

The IMO may have handed engine manufacturers a virtual monopoly on spare parts and reconditioning.

Shipowners with engines complying to the IMO?s NOx code may find their sources of spare parts and services severely restricted, as the rules may effectively outlaw parts and services from independent suppliers. The legislation requires an Approved Technical File to be kept on board detailing all NOx critical parts and settings to enable subsequent compliance checking.

To facilitate this checking, engine manufacturers are marking certain parts with serial numbers that are entered in the Technical File. If a marked part is replaced by an unmarked unit from an independent supplier, the engine will be deemed as not complying with the code. A checklist for Annex VI compliance issued by MAN B&W shows the scope of effected parts. These include the fuel injection nozzles, pumps and pressure, also the combustion chamber components (including compression ratio), turbo-charger type/build and the charge air cooler/pre-heat system.

Parts like piston crowns, fuel injectors, fuel pumps, turbo-chargers and charge-air coolers are often reconditioned or replaced by independent companies. One of the major independents says: “companies like ours exist because shipowners are reluctant to scrap parts which can be satisfactorily reconditioned at a lower cost than a new component. If the independent market is restricted, the prices for captive parts and services would rise dramatically.”

When the IMO?s NOx legislation enters into force, shipowners with vessels built from the beginning of this year will have to demonstrate that their engines remain compliant in order to get the required certificates. Currently the only way to remain compliant is to replace any marked part with identical items directly from the engine designer or manufacturer. In a service bulletin about the Sulzer ID numbering system Wartsila NSD points out, that replacement parts must have the same NOx influencing characteristics as the old ones. “The guarantee to receive the correct component with correct ID-numbering can only be achieved by ordering the new component from Wartsila NSD or the engine manufacturer,” it says.