Wärtsilä, the marine industry’s leading ship power system integrator, has signed a long term service agreement with Maersk LNG. The agreement includes maintenance planning, condition & performance monitoring, co-ordination and supply of technical services, parts and service work for five 165,000 cum LNG vessels equipped with Wärtsilä 50DF dual-fuel engines over a 5 year period.
“For Maersk LNG, this service agreement means improved levels of certainty regarding servicing of the main engines on our LNG vessels. With this monitoring system in place, maintenance work can be proactive,” said Claus H. Thomsen, Director, Maersk LNG. “The contract also guarantees us stable maintenance costs for at least the next five years.”
Wärtsilä has extensive experience in providing long-term operational and management services for about 1000 similar engines installed in ships and land-based power plants all over the world. Shipping is a different market though, which makes it important to create concepts fully adapted to the marine industry.
Headquartered in Copenhagen, Maersk LNG operates a fleet of seven LNG vessels, with one more on order for delivery early 2010. Maersk LNG is part of the A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, which employs about 117,000 people in some 130 countries around the world. The A.P. Moller – Maersk Group fleet includes container vessels, tankers, supply ships and drilling rigs. Besides shipping, the A.P. Moller – Maersk Group is engaged in exploration for and production of oil and gas as well as retail activities.
Significant operational advantages
Wärtsilä offers proactive and dynamic maintenance programmes called DMP (Dynamic Maintenance Planning), which includes the planning and scheduling of engine maintenance based on online monitoring of each engine’s mechanical condition, performance, system efficiency data and other indicators. As data is collected and monitored daily, the sources of faults can be identified before failure occurs.
“Wärtsilä’s service agreements including DMP are mainly about risk management in vessel operation,” says Bo Lindy Jensen, General Manager, Strategic Account Management, Wärtsilä in Denmark. “By providing this service we are supporting our customer’s business.”
“As a designer and manufacturer of marine and power plant engines, Wärtsilä also has the best possible know-how regarding how they should be maintained,” says Jensen. “Long-term service contracts provide us with a continuous flow of information on each engine’s operational characteristics throughout its life-cycle. Combined with our experience, this information helps us develop even better products and service solutions.”
The Wärtsilä DMP system offers clear potential for reducing maintenance costs. Intervals between overhauls are flexible based on actual condition and operational risk profile, the need for unplanned maintenance is reduced, up-time is increased and engine efficiency can be optimized.
Source: Wartsila
