Wärtsilä to supply ultra-silent propulsion for research vessel

Wärtsilä announced it will supply an ultra-silent propulsion package for a new research vessel to be built for the Faroe Islands Marine Research Institute, a Faroese Government organisation, after an order in June 2017. The vessel will be built at the MEST shipyard in the Faroes.

The 54m ship will be powered by two 8-cylinder Wärtsilä 20 engines and will have a silent fixed pitch propeller and complete shaft line. The vessel will have reduced acoustic signals and will be supplied with a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system to clean the engine exhaust of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.

Furthermore, the ship will operate with limited underwater radiated noise (URN), an operation that is in compliance with the DNV Silent R notation.

The cooperation between Wärtsilä and MEST Shipyard will save procurement time and minimize the project scheduling risks, said Mouritz Mohr, CEO of MEST Shipyard.

The research vessel is expected to begin operations in mid-2020, and will be used for the provision of a basis for the responsible exploitation of the marine resources around the Faroe Islands.