Wärtsilä Power for Long-distance Towage

Wärtsilä won a contract to provide propulsion plants for a pair of deep-sea tugs being built by Niigata Shipbuilding & Repair, Inc in Japan for the Rotterdam-based towage contractor Fairmount Marine BV.

The 75-m long tugs will each be powered by a complete Wärtsilä propulsion system, comprising Wärtsilä engines, Wärtsilä gearboxes, Lips controllable pitch propellers, Lips high efficiency nozzles and a Lipstronic integrated control and manoeuvring system.

The four Wärtsilä 6L32 diesel engines in each tug deliver a combined maximum output of 12,000kW at 750 rpm. The engines are connected to a pair of twin-in/single-out gearboxes with a secondary driven 1200 kW power take-off for electricity generation at sea. The two Lips CP propellers run in special high-performance HR nozzles, which generate up to 8% greater thrust than conventional nozzles, in both bollard pull and free-running conditions. This means that the Niigata-built tugs will have a maximum bollard pull as high as 200 tonnes, and still maintain a free-running speed of 16.5 knots. The Lipstronic control system ties together the control and monitoring of the machinery installation and includes a Lipsstick joystick system for simultaneous control of propellers, rudders and thrusters.

To be named Fairmount Sherpa and Fairmount Summit, the tugs are intended for long-distance deep-sea towage. They will, however, be fully equipped to work as anchor-handling tugs serving offshore rigs and floating production, storage and offloading vessels. The vessels are scheduled for delivery in May and October 2005.