Wärtsilä Combines Ship Design Units

– In a move to solidify its course as a complete ship system supplier, Wärtsilä at Norshipping in announced that it will combine all its ship design units into a single entity, to be known as Wärtsilä Ship Design. The units involved in this reorganization include the recently acquired naval architect companies Vik-Sandvik of Norway, Conan Wu & Associates (CWA) of Singapore, and SCHIFFKO of Germany, as well as the company's conceptual ship design unit in Finland.

"There will be close collaboration between our Ship Design unit, other parts of the Ship Power organization, and other Wärtsilä businesses. Our long term ambition is to create standard proven designs with predefined solutions, and to provide operational services with performance guarantees and fixed prices. This may also include extended services, such as yard selection and supervision support in the construction phase," says Arne Birkeland, Vice President, Ship Design, Wärtsilä Ship Power.

"We will gradually launch a series of designs developed as a result of the knowledge sharing between the different units, and these will be branded as Wärtsilä Ship Designs," said Birkeland. "It is our goal to establish Wärtsilä as an independent ship design brand, which will become the customer's first choice".

One of the first designs to be fully accredited as a Wärtsilä Ship Design is the W Tug 80. This is a compact, high performance escort tug of 35m, capable of carrying out ship assist duties at offshore terminals, as well as high-speed escorting, push-pull operations, and coastal towing.

The W Tug 80, designed for 80 ton bollard pull, can attain a speed of 14.5 knots. Due to its compact size and two Wärtsilä steerable thrusters, the tug is highly maneuverable. The rounded bow profile with moderate flare is optimized for pushing and reduces the risk of slamming.

A large skeg, combined with the forward hull shape, results in a steering force of 250 ton during escorting. It is powered by two 8-cylinder in-line Wärtsilä 26 engines, each rated at 2600kW at 1000rpm. A modular propulsion concept with various engine arrangements can be configured within the same basic design.