Rolls-Royce is to supply four 20-cylinder Series 8000 engines from MTU to Australian shipyard Incat Tasmania. The engines will be installed in the new high-speed ferry to be used by the Virtu Ferries company on the Malta-Sicily service that it operates daily throughout the year. The vessel is 110 m in length and can accommodate 900 passengers plus crew and 167 vehicles on 490 truck lane metres. The RoPax ferry is set to be the largest high-speed catamaran operating in the Mediterranean. The MTU brand is part of Rolls-Royce Power Systems.
MTU has worked together very successfully in the past with ship owner/operator Virtu Ferries who has several catamarans in service on the Mediterranean and Adriatic.
Francis Portelli, Managing Director at parent company Virtu Holdings Limited, said: “We already have three ferries with MTU propulsion. These engines are light in weight, and we’re very satisfied with them and especially with the after-sales support so MTU was naturally our choice for our new ferry.”
Knut Müller, head of marine and defence business at MTU, said: “We’re delighted that Virtu Ferries has again chosen MTU, particularly since this is the first time we’re supplying Incat with our biggest engine – the Series 8000. Our past cooperation on the delivery of Series 4000 units was very successful.” Over 250 Series 8000 engines have been sold so far, and having clocked up over 1.4 million operating hours in total, have more than proven themselves in the propulsion of ferries, yachts and naval vessels.
Besides the four 9,100-kW engines, MTU will also be delivering four 8V 2000 M51A gensets to Virtu Ferries. The new Virtu RoPax ferry will shuttle between Malta and mainland Europe throughout the year, and the crossing from Malta to Sicily will take just 90 minutes at a speed of 38 knots.
The keel-laying is planned for June 2017, while the engines are scheduled for delivery to Incat in the second half of 2018.
Press photos are available for download from www.mtu-online.com/press
About Rolls-Royce Holdings plc
- Rolls-Royce’s vision is to be the market-leader in high performance power systems where our engineering expertise, global reach and deep industry knowledge deliver outstanding customer relationships and solutions. We operate across five businesses: Civil Aerospace, Defence Aerospace, Marine, Nuclear and Power Systems.
- Rolls-Royce Power Systems is headquartered in Friedrichshafen in southern Germany and employs around 10,000 people. The product portfolio includes MTU-brand high-speed engines and propulsion systems for ships, power generation, heavy land, rail and defence vehicles and for the oil and gas industry. Under the MTU Onsite Energy brand, the company markets diesel gensets for emergency, base load and peak load applications as well as cogeneration plants using gas engines for the combined generation of heat and power. Bergen medium-speed engines power ships and power generation applications. L’Orange completes the portfolio with fuel injection systems for large engines.
- Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 150 countries, comprising more than 400 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces, 4,000 marine customers including 70 navies, and more than 5,000 power and nuclear customers.
- We have three common themes across all our businesses:
- Investing in and developing engineering excellence
- Driving a manufacturing and supply chain transformation which will embed operational excellence in lean, lower-cost facilities and processes
- Leveraging our installed base, product knowledge and engineering capabilities to provide customers with outstanding service through which we can capture aftermarket value long into the future.
- Annual underlying revenue was £13.8 billion in 2016, around half of which came from the provision of aftermarket services. The firm and announced order book stood at £80 billion at the end of 2016.
- In 2016, Rolls-Royce invested £1.3 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 31 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research.
- Rolls-Royce employs almost 50,000 people in 50 countries. More than 16,500 of these are engineers.
- The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills. In 2016 we recruited 274 graduates and 327 apprentices through our worldwide training programmes.
About Virtu Holdings
Virtu Holdings saw its origins as a ship owning company in 1945 operating cargo vessels between the Mediterranean and northern European ports. Currently the company’s core business is that of owners and operators of High Speed Passenger/Car Ferries on various routes, including Malta-Sicily and ports in the Adriatic. Other maritime services include bunkering and ship management.
About Incat Tasmania Pty Ltd.
Sitting at the cutting edge of environmentally friendly craft Incat provide optimal lightweight ship solutions for ferry operators, special service providers and militaries. From fast, flexible and efficient vehicle-passenger ferries to high-speed military support vessels, crew ships and dynamic platforms, Incat sets the global benchmark in aluminium ship technology.
With the continuing emphasis on eco operations and fuel efficiency Incat has continued to develop the breed with lightweight, environmentally friendly fuel-efficient ships carrying heavier vehicle loads than ever before and at the lowest operational costs.
Incat’s shipyard is on Prince of Wales Bay at Derwent Park, near Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Incat boasts innovative production facilities to construct, launch and deliver small craft through to larger ships of 150 metres length and of panamax beam. Four building halls encompass more than 70,000 m2 of undercover construction bays, with two dry-dock areas capable of accommodating up to six vessels under construction, a slipway and extensive wharf facilities.
A reputation for quality and excellence in production is supported by an experienced and dedicated workforce.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.