Wartsila Unveils Plans For The Future

As the business of providing power to marine vessels around the world continues to consolidate into the hands of fewer, larger companies, one of the more active companies — Wartsila Corporation — recently gave more insight into its long-term strategy as "The Ship Power Supplier." Earlier this year, the company announced that, as The Ship Power Supplier, it offered complete marine power systems for all types of vessels, together with all associated services.

As attested by the variety of companies both inside and out of the marine propulsion realm that are attempting to reshape their companies as a "one-stopshop", such solutions are intended to add value and better satisfy the group's customers and business partners.

An essential tool in this strategy — in Wartsila's case — is the new e-business channel, which gives direct access to Wartsila's information and services, as detailed in the SMM wrap-up report starting on page 81.

Shipbuilders increasingly outsource work and look for cost savings to be more competitive. At the same time, shipowners are seeking greater performance from their vessels' machinery and propulsion installations and trying to achieve even greater reductions in life-cycle costs. There are clear market signals that customers want stronger relationships, including an emphasis on a single responsibility for ships' entire power systems. In that way, they can be assured that all equipment is well matched with no interface difficulties.

Wartsila's response is to take a holistic approach. It is shifting business focus from hardware sales through customized service concepts to being a supplier of systems. Wartsila is building on existing skills and competence to develop its applications, products and services to create highly functional and compatible total marine power solutions from a single supplier — The Ship Power Supplier.

Today, Wartsila offers a comprehensive range of marine diesel engines, of four- and two-stroke types under the Wartsila and Sulzer brand names, with outputs of 720-65,880 kW, together with reduction gearboxes and propulsion controls. Wartsila also offers gas diesel engines to run on gas from the wells. Wartsila's main market segments cover all types of commercial vessels, including container ships, bulk carriers, tankers, ferries, RoRo vessels, cruise ships, car carriers and reefers, as well as the specialized marine markets of naval ships, dredgers, tugs, offshore vessels and fishing craft.

Shipbuilders and shipowners will both benefit from having a single supplier for a complete power system. Mainly shipbuilders will see important service benefits in system design, and project man- agement. In addition, they can be assured that all elements of the power system are well matched, and interface problems are avoided. For shipowners, a single-supplier system gives benefits in terms of operation and maintenance on board ship, as well as the availability of extended after-sales support. Through a high degree of integration, shipowners will also reap the benefits of lowest lifecycle costs for their investment.

Product and Application Development An important feature of The Ship Circle 239 on Reader Service Card Power Supplier strategy is that Wartsila, as the single supplier, acts as the prime contractor to the shipbuilders and shipowners taking responsibility for the complete system and providing all related services. As part of this responsibility, Wartsila will apply its skills and competence to identify and develop new products and applications, and integrate them into the product portfolio.

As necessary, Wartsila is also entering into strategic alliances with leading manufacturing companies. Such alliances, through their long-term working relationships, give particular benefits in ensuring that resulting marine power systems are well optimized and fully compatible. The first of these alliances was formed earlier this year with John Crane-Lips. This makes an important contribution to the range of hardware available to Wartsila as The Ship Power Supplier. To Wartsila's engines, gearboxes and controls, John Crane-Lips adds a range of propellers, both fixed-pitch and controllable-pitch types, with all types of thrusters.