Great Ships of 2016: NYK Blue Jay

 

Japan Marine United Corporation delivered the 14,000 TEU container ship NYK Blue Jay, which is chartered by Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), the first of 10 that the shipyard is building for NYK for operation on the Asia-European shipping lanes.  While on the outside NYK Blue Jay may appear a standard containership, inside it is anything but standard as it houses a world first in marine power: a dual-rated Wärtsilä X82 diesel engine designed by Winterthur Gas & Diesel (WinGD) in Winterthur, Switzerland, and manufactured by Diesel United Ltd. in Japan, which means the engine and ship can respond more quickly to changing market conditions. “This engine was originally designed for the VLCC tanker market. But with the change of the trading pattern in container shipping, with slower speeds, different engines were required. It became suitable for large containerships after a revision of certain technical features,” said Rolf Stiefel, Vice President Sales & Marketing, Winterthur Gas & Diesel Ltd. 

 

“By doing the revisions of these features we developed a dual rating, which is offering the ship owner the possibility to adapt the engine to different trade patterns (speed). With this dual rating we can also make the engine very fuel efficient at these slower speeds. That is the benefit we’re offering with this engine.” In spite of its smaller capacity, the new container ship series is designed to be able to compete in terms of operating economy with new generation of ultra large container vessels carrying around 20,000TEU. The advanced propulsion concept includes a narrow dimensioned engine room allowing a hull design with exceptional hydrodynamic efficiency. And of course the central attraction is theWärtsilä brand Generation X two-stroke diesel engine, the 9-cylinder Wärtsilä X82.

 

Specifically designed and developed by WinGD to meet ship owners’ demands for the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO), the Generation X diesel and dual-fuel engines are conceived for maximized vessel payloads combined with low fuel consumption and emissions and for rational, economic production by WinGD’s licensees. 

 

Length: 364m

Width: 50.6m

Load draft: 15.8m

Main engine: Wärtsilä 9X82


(As published in the December 2016 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News)