Page 46: of Marine News Magazine (January 2018)

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PROPULSION

Propelling the Passenger Vessel Market

Scania advances into 2018 on the strength of prior year successes and new visibility in one of the North American marine industry’s hottest sectors.

By Joseph Keefe n the fourth quarter of 2017, the ? rst two passenger high-speed, low-wake water taxis, it marked the beginning vessels built by Louisiana-based shipbuilder Metal of what turned out to be a very good year for the San An-

I

Shark for Entertainment Cruises’ Potomac Riverboat tonio-based engine manufacturer. That’s because the deal

Company division were delivered to Washington, D.C. not only represented a signi? cant number of individual

Both are now in service. The two 88’, 149-passenger high engines, but more importantly for Scania, it cemented the speed aluminum catamaran vessels – the Potomac Taxi I ? rm’s toehold in the red hot domestic ferry sector.

and Potomac Taxi II – departed Metal Shark’s Franklin, As much as 40 percent of Scania’s North American ma-

Louisiana shipyard and eventually proceeded northward rine engine sales are made into the ? sheries market. But, up the Atlantic Coast to Washington. How they got there ferry business is rapidly catching up. Al Alcala, Sales Man- is less important than what powered the delivery. ager (Marine) for Scania USA Alcala explained, “We’ve

Powered by twin Scania DI13 081M diesel engines de- had good success with our distributors and setting up deal- livering 500 HP at 1800 RPM, the USCG Subchapter T ers.” As it turns out, that’s exactly what tipped the scales vessels were designed by BMT Designers and Planners and for Scania on their latest sale.

BMT Nigel Gee, and feature an environmentally friendly In this case NRE Power Systems of Houma, LA was Sca- low wake / low wash hull design. The new vessels pro- nia’s distributor to Metal Shark. Alcala explained, “Mack vide commuters in the metro region with service between Boring and Parts in Somerset, NJ really convinced Enter-

Old Town Alexandria; National Harbor, Maryland; and tainment Cruises and BMT Nigel Designers and Planners

Georgetown and The Wharf in Washington DC. that Scania was the best option. It was a great team effort between two of our largest distributors and Scania USA.”

NEW MARKETS, BIG BUSINESS

When Scania announced the deal to deliver eight, EPA WHY SCANIA

Tier 3, 500 HP DI13-liter engines in 2017 to power those Scania's marine engine platform today includes a com- plete range of 9-, 13- and 16-liter benchmark engines for both propulsion and auxiliary applications. Scania engines are available in EPA tier 3 ratings up to 900 hp, and the ? rm has also launched a range of IMO tier 3 engines for Canada. That reliability stems from a simple design philosophy, one which employs a modular block design that em- ploys as much as 30% in parts commonal- ity. Because so many parts are common to each engine, that means Scania rarely is out of stock on any part.

The modular commonality also comes into play in other ways. Alcala sums up the Scania advantage nicely when he says, “Our 9L, 13L and 16L all share the same head, piston, and fuel system designs. The only difference is the number of cylinders.

As such we have unmatched availability of

January 2018 46 MN