Stx Engine Co News

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) and STX Metal Co., Ltd., a marine diesel engine manufacturer in Korea, have signed an agreement under which MHI will license production and marketing of its MET Turbocharger*, a supercharger for marine diesel engines, to the Korean firm. By establishing a collaborative relationship with STX Metal, MHI aims for further market penetration of the MET Turbocharger in Korea, the world leader in marine diesel engine production. STX Metal is expected to complete production of the first unit of the MET Turbocharger in 2012.

Construcciones Navales del Norte (La Naval de Sestao) of Spain’s Basque country delivered the Simon Stevin to Jan de Nul in February. Driven by a diesel-electric propulsion system comprising a series of MAN Diesel 32/40 engines, the new addition to the Belgian group’s fleet is claimed to be the world’s largest fall-pipe and rock-dumping vessel with a capacity of 19,500 m3. Construction of the ship lasted 26 months, with keel-laying taking place in April 2008 and launching in March 2009. The Simon Stevin recently departed for Australia for its first commercial projects. The Simon Stevin is powered by five MAN Diesel nine-cylinder 32/40 main engines. Each delivers 4,500 kW at 720 rpm and is manufactured by STX Engine Co., Ltd., MAN Diesel’s Korean licensee.

The Tognum business unit Engines received two orders for the supply of a total of 28 MTU engines from the Series 2000, Series 4000 and Series 1163 to the Korean Coast Guard in 2009. The orders also include MTU automation systems for six new vessels. The total order value is $55.6m. The engines and automation systems will be installed in new patrol boats with displacements of 300, 500, 1000 and 3000 tons. Contractual partners are the Korean companies STX Engine Co., Ltd, who manufactures the MTU engines under licence, and the MTU distributor, Meksan Engineering Co. Ltd who packages the automation systems with consoles. The new ships will be built by the Korean ship yards Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd (HHI) and Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co. Ltd.

STX Shipbuilding Co., the first South Korean yard in China, had its biggest two-day gain in more than a week in Seoul on optimism the purchase of a stake in Norway's Aker Yards ASA will add cruise liners to its range of vessels. STX Shipbuilding has more than quadrupled this year, making it the fourth-best performer in South Korea's Kospi 200 index. The stake purchase in Aker Yards will allow STX Shipbuilding to use the Norwegian company's expertise in cruise liners, which are usually more profitable to build than STX Shipbuilding's main business of mid-sized oil tankers and commodity carriers. STX Shipbuilding and STX Engine Co. said they paid $800m for a 39.2 percent stake in Aker Yards, becoming the biggest shareholders in the company.

STX Group said its affiliate STX Shipbuilding Co. has won orders valued at $4.7b in the first half of the year, compared with $1.7ba year earlier. The shipbuilding orders it has received so far are roughly 85 per cent of its annual target of $5.5 billion, it said. In June alone, STX Shipbuilding, the world's seventh-largest shipbuilder, clinched orders valued at $1.1 billion. STX Group has four major subsidiaries -- STX PanOcean Co., STX Shipbuilding Co., STX Engine Co. and STX Energy Co. The group is building another shipyard in China to lower costs and increase capacity to meet rising demand for vessels. The Chinese shipyard is expected to post $3b in sales in 2012, similar to that of its shipyard in Jinhae, South Korea. Source: Asia Pulse