Vol. 1,
issue #27, 12 May 2000
More engine orders for Wartsila NSD
Marine engine builder Wartsila NSD has reported more orders for its medium speed engines for the new generation of trailing suction hopper dredgers, and says many of the modern generation of jumbo-sized dredgers are already powered by medium speed dieselengines supplied by Wartsila NSD Corporation.
Although designed to undertake a wide range of dredging tasks worldwide, these very large trailing suction hopper dredgers are primarily employed in giant land reclamation projects, particularly those in East Asia.
In recent years, these projects have included land reclamation for the new Hong Kong airport, new container terminals in Singapore and Hong Kong, a new Disney theme park in Hong Kong.
The jumbo dredgers, however, are all designed to be highly versatile and capable of worldwide service. They are also used for offshore projects, including seabed levelling for undersea pipelines and the covering such pipelines, as well as for work on
maintaining and improving port access, and on coastal protection projects.
An important recent order received by the company was for a 23,700m3 trailing suction hopper dredger contracted in December 1999 by HAM Dredging Ltd at IHC Holland, and due for delivery in Autumn 2001.
To be named HAM 318, she will be powered by two Wartsila 12V46C main engines of 25,200kW, together with an 1,860 kW Wartsila 6L26 auxiliary engine. She will have an overall length of 169.5m, Panamax beam of 32m, draught of 12m, and deadweight of 36,450 tonnes.
Similar machinery will also be installed in the 21,500m3 trailing suction hopper dredger Rotterdam (shown here) ordered last year by Ballast Nedam for delivery in 2001. The 18,000m3 Amsterdam of the same owners and delivered in 1996 also has twin 12V46Bmain engines of 23,400kW output, but with a 1,080kW Wartsila 8L20 auxiliary engine.
Twin Wartsila 12V46 main engines and a 6L26 auxiliary, were also
installed ineach of two 23,400m3 dredgers, the WD Fairway and Queen of the Netherlands,built in 1997 and 1998 respectively for Royal Boskalis Westminster.
However, the 20,000m3 trailing suction dredger Volvox Terranova of Van Oord ACZ entered service in 1998 with two Wartsila 18V38A main engines of 23,760kW and a 9L38A auxiliary engine of 5,940kW.
The 20,000m3 Queen of Penta Ocean delivered in 1999 also has twin Wartsila 12V46 main engines.
The pioneering jumbo-sized trailing suction hopper dredger was the 17,000m3Pearl River in 1994. Built at IHC Holland for her owners Dredging Environmental & Marine Engineering NV (DEME), she is powered by twin Sulzer 12ZA40S dieselengines of 17,280kW combined output.
An improved version, the Nile River, was delivered to DEME late in 1999, also with twin 12ZA40S engines.
Wartsila NSD says an interesting aspect of recent orders of machinery for dredgers is the tighter requirements on exhaust emissions because they are often operating
close inshore or in waterways and channels.
Although all diesel engines supplied by Wartsila NSD comply with the IMO regulation for N0x emissions, owners are increasingly looking for lower levels of emissions.
For this reason, the Wartsila 46 engines contracted for HAM 318 and theBallast Nedam newbuilding will all be prepared for the fitting later of direct water injection.
The engines in the WD Fairway and Queen of the Netherlands are already similarly prepared for retrofitting of direct water injection. The intention is that, if the dredgers are required to operate in waters where strict emissions regulations apply, then the engines can be readily adapted to reduce NOx emissions to about 50-60 per cent of the limit in the IMO regulation.
The company says that in the past five years Wartsila NSD has bookedorders for the diesel engines in 32 dredgers worldwide, with an aggregate output of 403,975kW.
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