Rolls Royce Marine News

Svitzer, Kongsberg Maritime and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) signed a deal to jointly develop the RECOTUG, touted as the world’s first commercial tug to be fully operated from a remote operations center on shore.Each organization delivers a unique perspective: Svitzer brings operational experience; Kongsberg brings remote control systems and autonomous technology; and ABS brings guidance for regulatory approval.The RECOTUG project's aim is to develop a remotely controlled…

Power solutions provider Fairbanks Morse said it has named James "Jay" McFadyen as Vice President and General Manager of Aftermarket.McFadyen has more than 30 years of experience in the marine, defense and aerospace industries with leading global companies including Rolls-Royce, GE, and most recently as Vice President for Leonardo DRS-Naval Power Systems. Recognized as an innovator, McFadyen twice won GE’s award for Engineering Accomplishment of the Year and formed the first business unit at Rolls-Royce to be recognized as an Innovation Center of Excellence.

A new joint industry report offers recommendations for enhanced battery safety on vessels.The report, released by DNV GL in collaboration with the Norwegian, Danish and US maritime authorities, battery manufacturers, system integrators, suppliers of fire extinguishing systems, shipyards and shipowners, assesses explosion and fire risks in maritime battery installations and the effectiveness of fire extinguishing systems in the event of a battery fire.While onboard battery power represents a pathway toward more environmentally friendly vessel operations…

ONE SEA, an industry alliance bringing together leading exponents of autonomous ship technology, has made a significant addition to its growing membership, after signing up Awake.AI - a company led by an experienced team of maritime digital innovators.Awake.AI is aiming to create a new platform and ML models (Machine learning) based on transparent data sharing to break down the barriers between ships, ports and other actors in the maritime logistics chain. The ‘virtual infrastructure’ will be vital if ports are to handle autonomous ships successfully from pre-arrival…

Norway on Jan. 1, 2026, will begin a ban on cruise ships powering through the Unesco-listed heritage fjords on anything but zero-emissions propulsion. For now, that means battery power, but few of the 190 cruise ship calls to these fjords are made with that kind of electro-chemical fuel on board. From now until 2026, you can still cruise the fjords on a closed-loop, or in-line, scrubber system, but few cruise ships have these installed. The new rules mean cruising elsewhere, finding…

Norwegian technology group Kongsberg Gruppen announced that it has completed its acquisition of Rolls-Royce Commercial Marine (RRCM), with the European Commission's approval.Kongsberg Gruppen announced its intention to acquire RRCM, an established and trusted global supplier of maritime technology and engineering products, in July 2018.With the unification of Kongsberg Maritime and RRCM, Kongsberg is represented in 40 countries, has more than 11,000 employees and an annual turnover of more than NOK 22 billion. A fleet of more than 30,000 vessels depends on the organisation’s combined expertise.“I have looked forward to this day for a long time.

Earlier this summer Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ventured to Ålesund/Sunnmøre area of western Norway visiting local manufacturers and suppliers serving the global maritime industry and featuring a series of business and technology presentations by leading sector companies including Inmarsat, VARD Group, Ulstein Group, Brunvoll, Ulmatec, Jets, ABB Marine & Ports, Fostech AS and Rolls-Royce Marine. Tom Mulligan reports on new business developments and technology innovations…

As the global maritime industry increases the level of automation and ship-to-shore connection, the move toward autonomy is gaining steam in certain sectors. While it is generally agreed among industry insiders that full autonomous operations on ships traversing the world's oceans is a generation or more away, there are some significant strides being made on shorter, point-to-point inland and coastal routes, as well as evolving the technology in a manner that automates onboard systems to help reduce crewing and workloads.

Nordlaks in Stokmarknes, Norway, is currently building a 385m long and 60m wide offshore salmon farm. The installation is being built at the CIMC Raffles yard in China. Nordlaks has also ordered a new hybrid/LNG live fish carrier (wellboat) to be built at the Tersan shipyard in Turkey. Rolls-Royce has been commissioned to provide equipment for both newbuilds, which have been designed by NSK Ship Design.Rolls-Royce will supply six TT1100 tunnel thrusters to the massive fish farm, which has been designed to produce salmon further offshore than has been possible so far.

Rolls-Royce Marine said it has signed a contract with Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors, L.L.C. in Louisiana for the development of a 100-meter-long trawler to be built for the Seattle based company Arctic Storm Management Group, LLC.In addition to being the largest fishing vessel contract to date for Rolls-Royce with a value of about £15 million, it also marks the first Rolls-Royce fishing vessel concept to be built at a U.S. shipyard.Rolls-Royce has been working closely with the owner…

Rolls-Royce has received a supply order from Spain’s Astilleros Gondan shipyard for the design, propulsion and auxiliary machinery systems for what has been dubbed one of world’s most advanced fishing vessels.Scheduled for delivery in 2020 to Prestfjord Seafood, a division of Norway’s Holmøy Maritime, the 77m trawler will be based on a Rolls-Royce NVC 732 WP design arranged with triple trawl and pelagic trawl for operation in Arctic waters catching white fish and shrimps. The vessel has been designed to accommodate a 29-person crew.Knut Roald Holmøy…

Norwegian fishery and fish farm owner Prestfjord AS has chosen Asturian shipyard GONDAN for the construction of a complex and advanced stern trawler.GONDAN will build an advanced stern trawler for Prestfjord AS, for whom the shipyard had already delivered another technologically advanced freezing stern trawler, Sunderøy.This new vessel, designed by Rolls Royce Marine - in charge also of supplying the main equipment - will have a length of 77.3 m and a beam of 17 m. Built in steel with aluminum superstructure…

Rolls-Royce said it has signed a long-term service agreement with offshore vessel owner Siem Offshore for the maintenance of its deck machinery installations aboard 12 anchor handling vessels.The five-year Maintenance Inspection Program (MIP) is the formalization of a cooperation agreement between the two companies following the delivery of 10 new AHTS vessels in 2010, and two additional AHTS vessels that Siem Offshore took over ship management of in 2017.Jon August Houge, Operations Manager…

Finnish ship technology and power plant maker Wartsila missed first-quarter earnings expectations on Tuesday and said geopolitical uncertainty was slowing demand in the marine market. In a phone interview following the quarterly report, Chief Executive Jaakko Eskola said Wartsila aimed to grow through acquisitions and that it continued to look at Rolls-Royce's marine business, which the British company is reviewing for a possible sale. Wartsila said the marine sector, which has been hit by overcapacity and lack of financing, was recovering, but not at the pace the company had anticipated. "We are seeing that this geopolitical uncertainty impacts customers' decision-making ... merchant and offshore segments' activity is not growing as we had thought," Eskola said. "It is a concern.

Rolls-Royce Marine has signed a deal to supply its Autocrossing system to a total of 13 new environmentally friendly ferries for the Norwegian company Fjord1. The vessels are currently being built by three yards in Turkey and two yards in Norway. All contracts also include two azipull propellers for each vessel with accompanying propeller control system from Rolls-Royce. With this contract, Rolls-Royce has sold autocrossing to a  total of 18 new ferries to operate along the coast of Norway, of which 16 have been ordered by Fjord1 and two by another Norwegian ferry company, FosenNamsos Sjø.

Systems integrator and equipment maker Rolls-Royce has quietly been adding hybridizing energy-storage packages to a diverse list of vessels. Yet, so, too, has one of its clients — Louisiana-based SEACOR Marine, as it reacts early to tightened emissions and energy-management standards, or EMS, for vessels plying Europe and North America. Fuel savings and energy-company clients seeking green credentials are, it turns out, just part of the upside driving battery retrofits.The fuel savings to be had for keeping thrusters on battery power are a powerful selling point, to be sure.

As the luxury yacht/adventure sector of the global cruise market continues to gain strength, Maritime Reporter & Engineering News recently received insights from Hurtigruten, a clear leader in the sector. William Harber, President of the Americas Region, Hurtigruten, explains the path forward. Please discuss Hurtigruten’s plans to ramp up its North American presence. We are indeed ramping up our presence in the Americas. From a distribution perspective, Hurtigruten is developing stronger, deeper and more strategic partnerships to drive our expedition cruise products.

A new multi-million Euros European research and development project will develop new Service Operation Vessel (SOV) designs and business concepts to meet the urgent and growing needs of the offshore wind operations and industry. The project is co-led by ARTTIC and Rolls-Royce Marine. As wind farms are moving further offshore, operations and maintenance (O&M) providers are following them into more hostile waters with more challenging service demands. The relatively high cost of wind farm maintenance today has a negative impact on the competitiveness of offshore wind produced electricity.

New partners have joined the Open Simulation Platform (OSP) initiative, which aims to create an open source digital platform which will allow the creation of so called “digital twins” in the design of ships. The initiative was launched this week at the Norwegian Maritime Competence Centre in Ålesund. In July last year Rolls-Royce Marine, The Norwegian University of Technology Science (NTNU), research organization SINTEF Ocean and classification society DNV GL signed a memorandum…

Classification society DNV GL has announced the launch of a Joint Development Project (JDP), designed to advance the understanding of the use of lithium-ion batteries in the shipping industry. More than a dozen partners from the entire value chain have joined the initiative, including flag states, research institutions, battery and propulsion suppliers, fire detection and extinguishing system providers, and ship owners, operators and yards. “Including batteries in ships, whether as a hybrid or fully electric system…

Finland's Wärtsilä said on Wednesday it will take a look at Rolls-Royce's loss-making marine business which the British company is reviewing for possible sale. "If we see any interesting player in the market, who would fit well to our strategy... we would definitely look at it," Wärtsilä Chief Executive Jaakko Eskola told a news conference. The two companies said in 2014 that Rolls-Royce had made an approach to take over Wärtsilä, but those talks ended without a deal.

Offshore services vessel operator SEACOR Marine Holdings Inc. said it has formed a jointly owned company with affiliates of the world’s largest ship owner, COSCO Shipping Group. The Marshall Islands company, SEACOSCO Offshore LLC, entered into contracts for the purchase of eight Rolls-Royce designed new construction platform supply vessels (PSV) from COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Guangdong) Co., Ltd. Six of the PSVs are of UT 771WP design (4,400 tons deadweight), and two are of UT 771CD design (3,800 tons deadweight).

In a show of prototypes, a pod of unmanned sailboats from around the world competes to cross “The Atlantic” test tank in Horten, Norway. Cross the real ocean, and the Sail Bots race similarly challenges scholarly robotic-vessel designers to North America for a bit of station-keeping, collision-avoidance and “cargo moves”. For all, the future seems bright — the first commercial runs of unmanned vessels are underway or scheduled worldwide. These earliest movers have the support of governments, Google and grateful clients.