Wärtsilä Joins Consortium to Develop Container Vessel

The technology group Wärtsilä is a party to an agreement made between leading marine industry players to collaborate in developing new levels of performance and environmental efficiency for container vessels. The consortium, which is led by Dubai-based Zaitoun Green Shipping Ltd (ZGS), also aims at creating a new business model for the container sector.

The seven companies making up the consortium are each established experts in their own fields of expertise. Wärtsilä, as a technology leader with the industry’s broadest portfolio of products, systems and integrated solutions, is seen as being the equipment and systems provider for the container vessel of the future.

“There is a pressing need to address inefficiencies and to improve business practices in the shipping industry. A major challenge is that the suboptimal choice and utilisation of onboard systems are hindering performance and hence, therefore, also profitability. This is an area we shall be focusing on,” says Stein Thorsager, Sales Director for Merchant & Gas Carriers in Wärtsilä Marine Solutions.

The goals of the consortium are very much in line with Wärtsilä’s Smart Marine Ecosystem vision, which foresees a future where smart ships can sail between smart ports with the optimum use of resources in an environment of high efficiency, enhanced safety and minimal environmental impact. Wärtsilä is employing high levels of connectivity and digitalisation to realise this vision.

The parties have agreed to establish a consortium team where each member company has an important role to play in developing and building a state-of-the-art container ship that features the highest possible levels of efficiency in all areas.

In addition to ZGS and Wärtsilä, the other consortium companies are MacGregor Finland Oy (MCG), a leader in cargo system solutions; Carina Solutions (C4), a specialist company in project management and supply chain processes; Winterthur Gas & Diesel (WinGD), a leading developer of low-speed 2-stroke engines; Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Marine Machinery& Equipment (MHI-MME), a provider of energy saving and environmental solutions; and Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT), an engineering company expert in containment systems with cryogenic membranes used to transport and store liquefied gas, in particular LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas).