Successful first year for Volvo Penta’s large marine diesel engines

The first installation
Furetank Rederi AB on Donsö outside Gothenburg was the first company to acquire one of the new engines. At the end of April, the shipping company installed three 34-liter engines as generator set units in the product tanker Fure Sun, and in May, it installed three more engines in another of its tankers, the Fure Star.

"The new product programme opens entirely new business opportunities for us and for our customers, and from the beginning there has been a strong interest in the new engines," says Bertil Börjesson, project manager for Volvo Penta's large marine diesel engines.

Furetank Rederi AB is a good example of the new category of customers Volvo Penta is now targeting. When Furetank acquired the two product tankers - Fure Sun and Fure Star - both had worn out auxiliary engines for supplying all onboard electrical power. Engine room personnel had to devote about 70% of their time to maintaining the old engines.

For Volvo Penta, the Furetank order involved six 34-liter diesel engines, three in each ship. All the engines have been environmentally certified regarding NOx emissions, which was in fact a condition of the contract. Moreover, the entire engine installation complies with the classification requirements of, and is classified by, Det Norske Veritas.

Sales in Europe, Asia and America
To date, Volvo Penta's sales of the new engines have exceeded expectations. Orders have been coming primarily from Europe, but trends in North and South America, and Asia, also look promising.
“One interesting market for Volvo Penta is Ukraine from where we have received an order of six 65-litre engines for tugboats”, says Bertil Börjesson.

Volvo Penta's agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries covers the entire world with the exception of Japan and Taiwan. The agreement has no connection whatsoever with the cooperation that the rest of the Volvo Group previously had with Mitsubishi Motors, which has now ended.

"We view the deepening of our cooperation with Mitsubishi as a logical development after several years of good business relations. Volvo Penta has been selling Mitsubishi engines in several European markets, such as Spain and Germany, for a long time, and has had good experience regarding engine operating reliability and economy - product characteristics that are particularly highly valued by our commercial customers," says Bertil Börjesson.

Up to 1,700 kW
The new large marine diesels enable Volvo Penta to provide engines of up to 1,700 kW, as opposed to the previous maximum of 550 kW. Volvo Penta's marine commercial segment is facing robust expansion over the next few years: sales are to be doubled within three years. The large marine diesel engines are expected to account for a large proportion of the sales increase.

"Volvo Penta can now offer its customers complete product packages, including propulsion engines and complete generating sets, for individual ships," says Bertil Börjesson.

Volvo Penta continues its intensive efforts to implement the new large diesel engines in the Volvo Penta product programme, currently focusing on training for technicians, spare parts provision and documentation (technical manuals, user manuals and spare-parts catalogues).

FACTS
Volvo Penta’s new marine diesel engine programme

Captions
Photo from shipping company showing ship in operation. Text: "MS Fure Sun"

Photo from engine installation. Text: "Volvo Penta diesel engines for power generation being installed at the Örskov's shipyard in Frederikshavn, Denmark"

For more information, please contact:
Ann-Charlotte Emegård,
AB Volvo Penta
Tel: +46 31 668311