Page 35: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2026)

JAPAN’S LONG-HAUL FERRY FLEETS

Image courtesy Wärtsilä

Vee-form models of Wärtsilä's 31 engine platform have found favour in the Japanese ro/ro ferry market.

They are distinguished by a hybrid die- speed engine platform, the vessels are sel-mechanical/diesel-electric propulsion forecast to not only yield a 5% energy arrangement and capability for a 31-knot saving, but also through-life reductions service speed. in maintenance compared with the out-

However, the incoming ships signify going generation’s complex, expensive an altogether more pragmatic approach. powering and propulsion solution. The

Rather than replicating the previous primary power plant consists of four generation’s status as a master class in 14-cylinder vee-type examples of the marine engineering, the new Keyaki W31 engine family, as chosen in recent and follow-on Hamanasu embody an years by a number of other Japanese ef? ciency-led strategy that blends a four- ferry operators. engine, diesel-mechanical driveline so- lution with an optimised hull form fea- TWO-STROKE UPTAKE turing a Katana Bow and buttock-? ow Traditionally the province of power- sternship with a ducktail. Propulsion ful medium-speed machinery, notably resistance, speed keeping in adverse the Pielstick marque, and now with more conditions, and onboard habitability and recent penetration by Wartsila, the sector comfort are enhanced by an anti-roll tank has also witnessed increased nomination and ? n stabilizers. of two-stroke propulsion.

Together with the power concentra- A case in point is the latest ? eet proj- tion and speed scale-down to 34,160 kW ect of Mitsui OSK Lines’ subsidiary and 28 knots, respectively, and adop- MOL Sun? ower, which speci? ed an tion of the Wartsila 31-series medium- MAN dual-fuel, low-speed main engine www.marinelink.com 35

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