Wärtsilä to accelerate ‘smart marine’ strategy

The company’s Wärtsilä Services division, accounting for around half of group turnover, will be integrated into its marine and energy divisions by the end of the year. Speaking to The Motorship Roger Holm, president, Wärtsilä Marine Solutions – which will be renamed Wärtsilä Marine Business – said that the move was a “proactive way to drive our smart marine strategy”.

The company has promoted its vision of a ‘smart marine ecosystem’ over the past year, positioning itself as a provider of equipment and systems to enable a more efficient, connected shipping business. As part of this strategy Wärtsilä expects services – particularly digital services – to become even more important, while product sales and service-based offerings will become more integrated.

“We see marine turning more towards service-type business, whether that is the Carnival agreement we have had for a while already or services related to connectivity and navigation, which we sell based on monthly fees,” Holm said.

Holm noted that in many cases, such as where a product is sold to either the marine or energy market, it would be very simple to divide the services business. In areas where there is considerable overlap – such as engine research and development – the departments will remain centralised.

Integrating the newbuild and service activities is expected to strengthen the focus on complete lifecycle solutions and will also enable increased flexibility and faster response times, the group said in a statement.

“I am confident that this change will ensure more rapid development of innovative solutions and services and a superior customer experience,” added Jaakko Eskola, president and CEO, Wärtsilä.

In the 12 months to 30 June 2018 net sales across the group amounted to €2.40 billion in Wärtsilä Services, €1.15 billion in Wärtsilä Marine Solutions and €1.38 billion in Wärtsilä Energy Solutions. Those figures have been restated, with Wärtsilä Marine Business accounting for €2.7 billion and Wärtsilä Energy Business €2.2 billion.