Wärtsilä Opens a Workshop in Shanghai

Wärtsilä Corporation began the first phase of a new reconditioning workshop in Shanghai, China. It will provide high-quality reconditioning services to owners and operators of marine engines, gearboxes, controllable-pitch propellers, thrusters and other ship equipment. This first phase represents an investment of EUR 2.3 million.

The services undertaken by the new reconditioning workshop can be summarised as: • Overhauling of engine components, and reconditioning of complete engines in the workshop • Onboard overhaul, maintenance and repair of engines, gearboxes and controllable-pitch propellers • Reconditioning of cylinder covers, piston crowns and fuel injection parts • Machining of various engine components, as well of other ship equipment • Various welding repair and re-chroming work • In-situ machining of many sorts, including crankshaft main journals, crank pins and all kinds of rotating shafts, line boring and milling of engine blocks, line boring for coupling bolts, etc. Also checking alignment using laser equipment. • Propeller repairs, as well as the repair and overhaul of thrusters.

The new workshop is already in operation, building up its scope of work. It is expected to be in full operation by May 2007. At present there are about 30 employees in the workshop and this number will be increased to about 70 when in full operation. Most of these employees are recruited locally. A handful of expatriates provide specialist knowledge and skills. Extensive training of the employees guarantees the necessary very high levels of quality required in the reconditioning work. Every single employee is qualified for excellent customer service and awareness of high quality.

There are three workshop buildings with a total floor area of 3600 m2 and also with 900 m2 of office space. The new Shanghai workshop joins Wärtsilä's network of reconditioning workshops in Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and Singapore. This workshop is the third to be established by Wärtsilä in China. One is in Hong Kong, and the other, opened in 1994 in Panyu, in the southern Guangdong province. They have been very successful and have pointed to the need to provide extended services in the more northern port of Shanghai which is one of the largest container ports in the world. The large fleet based in Shanghai and passing through the port represents a good market for services. It is well recognised by ship owners and operators that reconditioning is an ideal way to prolong the life of certain engine components.