Wärtsilä is to combine all its ship design units into a single entity to be known as Wärtsilä Ship Design.
The units involved in this re-organisation include the recently acquired naval architect companies Vik-Sandvik of Norway, Conan Wu & Associates (CWA) of Singapore, and SCHIFFKO of Germany, as well as the company's conceptual ship design unit in Finland.
The new set up will generate a variety of new designs, from simple, low-cost, standard vessels to more high-end, ground-breaking tonnage.
"There will be close collaboration between our ship design unit, other parts of the ship power organisation, and other Wärtsilä businesses. Our long term ambition is to create standard proven designs with predefined solutions, and to provide operational services with performance guarantees and fixed prices. This may also include extended services, such as yard selection and supervision support in the construction phase," said Arne Birkeland, Vice President, Ship Design, Wärtsilä Ship Power.
One of the first designs to be fully accredited as a Wärtsilä Ship Design is the W Tug 80. This is a compact, high performance escort tug of 35 metres, capable of carrying out ship assist duties at offshore terminals, as well as high-speed escorting, push-pull operations, and coastal towing.
The W Tug 80, designed for 80-tonne bollard pull, can attain a speed of 14.5 knots. Due to its compact size and two Wärtsilä steerable thrusters, the tug is highly manoeuvrable. The rounded bow profile with moderate flare is optimised for pushing and reduces the risk of slamming.
A large skeg, combined with the forward hull shape, results in a steering force of 250 tonnes during escorting. It is powered by two eight-cylinder in-line Wärtsilä 26 engines, each rated at 2,600kW at 1,000rpm. A modular propulsion concept with various engine arrangements can be configured within the same basic design.
The towage and escorting duties are served well with a forward 112-tonne towing/anchor winch. A 91-tonne towing winch is sited aft of the superstructure. The tug can be equipped for fire-fighting duties, and can operate 200 nautical miles from the coastline.
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