Wärtsilä to Power Two Indian Dredgers

Wärtsilä has won an order for two new 8000m3 trailing suction hopper dredgers being built for the Adani group, India's largest private multi-port operator. The vessels are the first of a new IHC Beagle series designed by Royal IHC (IHC) of the Netherlands. IHC will also build the dredgers. The contract with Wärtsilä was signed in February, 2016.

The Wärtsilä scope of supply comprises two 8-cylinder Wärtsilä 32 main engines for the first vessel, and two 7-cylinder Wärtsilä 32 main engines for the second one, together with four Wärtsilä CPPs with shafts. In addition, Wärtsilä will supply a Super Trident sewage treatment plant with vacuum generation for both vessels. Delivery of this equipment will commence in September 2016. The first of the dredgers is scheduled for delivery to the customer in the end of 2017.

Wärtsilä has considerable experience in providing propulsion solutions for dredgers, and has worked closely with IHC, with whom the company has a strategic alliance. The engines selected for these vessels have exactly the right output power for the ships' operational profiles and will be tuned accordingly.

"We are very familiar with Wärtsilä's propulsion solutions, and are confident that they are a good choice for this new series of dredgers. The vessels will feature high levels of efficiency and maximum uptime, and the reliability and excellent performance of Wärtsilä's main engines are key contributors to this," says Sander Korving, Director Supply Chain Management of Royal IHC.

"We congratulate IHC on producing this latest dredger design series, and we are proud to have been selected to provide the propulsion machinery. Wärtsilä's global manufacturing resources offer important customer support since, regardless of whether future vessels in this series are built in Europe or Asia, we can produce the needed equipment locally," says Aaron Bresnahan, Vice President, Sales, Wärtsilä Marine Solutions.

Wärtsilä has earlier supplied equipment to IHC, while for dredgers and other port vessels owned by Adani, Wärtsilä has delivered its Vessel Fleet Management and Remote Monitoring systems.