Rolls-Royce launches a new family of medium speed marine engines

Rolls-Royce has today unveiled the first of a new family of medium-speed engines for the marine market that will include versions powered by diesel and gas.

The new engines offer a 20 per cent increase in power per cylinder, while reducing fuel consumption, emissions and through-life operating costs compared to existing engines in the Rolls-Royce Bergen range.

The first engine, the B33:45 powered by diesel, was officially launched at the SMM exhibition in Hamburg, the maritime industry’s largest event of the year, which begins today.

Mikael Makinen, Rolls-Royce, President - Marine said: “Ship owners want better performance at a lower price and society wants cleaner oceans. This new family of engines will deliver what our customers need in terms of cost and the environment, and so I’m delighted to be able to launch the first engine in what will be an extensive range, suited to a wide variety of ships.

”We have been developing this engine over the past three years, and part of its future success will be down to the excellent collaboration and sharing of engine technology between our experts in Bergen, Norway and Friedrichshafen, Germany.

“Our Bergen engine range is renowned for its robust design and reliability, and this completely new modular engine architecture not only builds and improves on our existing capability, but gives us an engine family that is truly engineered for the future, with numerous configurations and multiple fuel options. It fits perfectly with our vision of providing better power for a changing world.”

The 20 per cent increase in power per cylinder, compared to the current B32:40-series engines, means the same power demand can be met with fewer cylinders. This will give significantly lower maintenance costs and will be more compact where engine room space is at a premium.

Thor Humerfelt, Rolls-Royce, Programme Director - Bergen Engines, said: “Our overall design goal was to develop an engine that offers our customers reduced life cycle costs. Engines are one of the large contributors to a ship’s operating and maintenance costs, so we believe that the features of this family of engines will prove popular as we expand the range.”

The B33:45 will follow a modular design for ease of production and maintenance. The in-line engine platform will consist of 6, 7, 8 and 9-cylinder variants spanning a power range from 3,600kW to 5,400KW.  Later, a V-engine range will be introduced with a wide range of incremental power for the marine and land based power plant market. The diesel and the gas engines will share the same core design.

The engines are suited to numerous types of offshore vessels including anchor handlers, seismic, subsea construction vessels, semi submersibles and drill ships. The design will also suit commercial vessels such as ropax ferries, cruise, cargo ships and fishing vessels.

The first B33:45 will be delivered to Norwegian customer Prestfjord Havfiske AS, for a new Rolls-Royce designed fishing vessel, in June 2015.

1. Rolls-Royce’s vision is to create better power for a changing world via two main business segments, Aerospace and Marine & Industrial Power Systems (MIPS). These business segments address markets with two strong technology platforms, gas turbines and reciprocating engines, for use on land, at sea and in the air.
2. Aerospace comprises Civil Aerospace and Defence Aerospace. MIPS comprises Marine, Nuclear & Energy and Power Systems (RRPS). On 6 May 2014 Rolls-Royce announced it had signed an agreement to sell its Energy gas turbine and compressor business to Siemens for a £785m cash consideration. On completion, expected before the end of December 2014, Rolls-Royce will receive a further £200 million for a 25 year licensing agreement.
3. Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 120 countries, comprising more than 380 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces, 4,000 marine customers, including 70 navies, and 1,600 energy and nuclear customers.
4. Our business is focused on the 4Cs:
   * Customer - placing the customer at the heart of our business
   * Concentration - deciding where to grow and where not to
   * Cost - continually looking to increase efficiency
   * Cash - improving financial performance.
5. Annual underlying revenue was £15.5 billion in 2013, around half of which came from the provision of aftermarket services. The firm and announced order book stood at £70.4 billion at 30 June 2014.
6. In 2013, Rolls-Royce invested £1.1 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 31 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research.
7. Rolls-Royce employs over 55,000 people in 45 countries. Over 17,000 of these are engineers.
8. The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills. In 2013 we employed 379 graduates and 288 apprentices through our worldwide training programmes. Globally we have over 1,000 Rolls-Royce STEM ambassadors who are actively involved in education programmes and activities; we have set ourselves a target to reach 6 million people through our STEM outreach activities by 2020.