Seventh AIDA Ship to Sail with Siemens Technology

Siemens Industry Solutions Division has received an order from the Meyer Shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, to equip another club ship for the AIDA Cruises shipping company with diesel-electric propulsion systems, and power generation and distribution systems. The scope of supply also includes the automation equipment which will control and monitor all the on-board functions. The value of this order lies in the lower double-digit million euro range. When the new passenger ship comes into service in the spring of 2013, it will be the seventh AIDA ship to be equipped with Siemens technology.

The new AIDA cruise ship will be 71,100 gross register tons, and oriented toward the German cruise market. It will have a length of 826.7 ft, a width of 105.6 ft, and a passenger capacity of 2,192. Siemens will supply two Siship Drive MV series 12.5 MW electric motors for the ship's diesel-electric propulsion system. The two propeller motors run with very low noise and vibration levels, which make them particularly suitable for use in passenger and cruise ships. The diesel-electric propulsion systems are also very eco-friendly because of their reduced pollutant emissions in the rated load range during diesel operation.

Four diesel generators with a total power of 48 MVA will be installed to supply the electrical power on board. The power will be distributed by an NXAir medium voltage substation equipped with a protection and energy management system. The energy management system makes all the information relevant to the ship's power supply available on the bridge. And also enables the diesel engines to be switched in and out optimally to minimize fuel consumption. The energy management system will be connected to the "Siship Imac" ship automation system by an open interface based on the PCS-7 control system, which will handle all on-board monitoring, alarm and control functions. The safety management system, air-conditioning control and regulation, and the autonomously functioning emergency shutdown system will be integrated into the Siship Imac. Data will be collected from a total of around 13,000 measuring points, which will give the user detailed data of all the processes running on board. Diesel-electric ship propulsion systems are part of Siemens environmental portfolio, with which the company achieved sales of some 28 billion euros in fiscal 2010. This makes Siemens the world's largest supplier of environmentally clean technology. In this same period, customers saved no less than 270 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) by using the company's products and solutions. That corresponds to the current, annual, combined CO2 emissions of Hong Kong, London, New York, Tokyo, Delhi and Singapore.