Owner takes diesel-electric option

Rami Jokela, area sales manager of ABB Marine, explains the process behind the selection of diesel-electric propulsion for the chemical tanker

Turchese

.

The 12,000 dwt, 13,800m³ capacity chemical tanker Turchese, delivered to Finbeta Spa from the Ancona yard of Mario Morini earlier this year, has been equipped with a diesel electric propulsion plant, rather than the usual diesel-mechanical arrangement

.

The original specification for the 136m loa, 20

.

4m breadth and 8

.

06m draught vesselwas for machinery comprising a 5,940kW (7,962 bhp) main engine, plus two 740kW electricity generators

.

This arrangement would result in an engine room length of 28

.

2m from the aft perpendicular

.

The owner and yard then looked at increasing the cargo carrying capacity of the vessel by opting for a diesel electric propulsion system, which would require an engine room length of 23

.

2m, 5m shorter than that required for the conventional set up

.

This was achieved by an improved hull shape design, providing an extra 800m

³

of volume for cargo, and about a 5-8% reduction in propulsive power

.