Wärtsilä, Finland, and IHI Marine United Inc (IHIMU) of Japan, have concluded a co-operation agreement for contra-rotating propeller (CRP) systems developed by IHIMU to be incorporated into Wärtsilä's propulsion solutions used on board diesel-electric driven ships.
The co-operation agreement mainly covers the European market, where the environmental demands on shipping operations are becoming increasingly stringent.
The IHIMU CRP systems have been installed over a period of more than 20 years onboard VLCC and bulk carrier vessels. The company has further developed its CRP systems for diesel-electric ship applications installed from 2007 onwards.
Wärtsilä is able to totally engineer a highly efficient propulsion solution incorporating the IHIMU CRP systems into a comprehensive system that is environmentally sound. Wärtsilä is, therefore, able to market the CRP system as an integrated part of its propulsion solution.
The IHIMU CRP system achieves ten percent better propulsion efficiency compared with conventional diesel-electric propulsion systems, and is applicable to all vessels from small ships to large LNG carriers. This efficiency improvement translates into significant fuel savings, thus enabling a short return on investment as well as reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
The application of the CRP system could be extended to include hybrid (mechanical driven and electric driven) propulsion systems, and four-stroke mechanical systems, at a future stage.
For further information contact:
