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Cruise Ship Engine Power, Propulsion, Fuel

These are some of the most interesting cruise ship technology-related data and facts - engines , power , marine propulsion systems , fuel consumption of cruise ships , and something about pollution (in-article navigation links).

In 2020, IMO (International Maritime Organization) implements its global 0,5% sulfur cap on marine fuels. If not using scrubbers (pollution control devices), owners of older vessels must use as ship fuels either MGO (marine gas oil), ECA Category Fuels (low sulfur MGO), new modified fuels and blends, LNG (liquefied natural gas) or electric/battery power . Each fuel option is based on vessel type and age, routes/itineraries and powerplant. Most newbuild passenger ships are LNG-powered . World's largest seaports plus numerous smaller ports already have installed shoreside power capabilities providing shore-to-ship power supply to berthed vessels. In many ports, shorepower is in addition to LNG bunkering capabilities.

Cruise Ship Engine

Without a source of power, these huge cruise vessels would be nothing more than drifting aimlessly hotels. A large number of older ships use diesel reciprocating engines for generating power for propulsion. Cruise ship engine power is supplied through the transmission to the propeller shafts. These transmissions determine the revolutions of propellers. Modern ships use either diesel-electric engines or gas turbines as a source of power for propulsion, and for ship's systems. Some of the larger ships depend on two power sources - one for electrical power and one for propulsion.

Gas turbine engines (being aero-derivative) generate heat which is transformed from mechanical energy into electricity. To achieve this, compressed air is fired in a combustion chamber. Hot exhaust is made over a turbine that spins to drive mechanically a shaft. The power can be used to spin the generators. The same way works diesel-electric engines, yet they use a direct drive system, not a turbine. The output shafts, to produce electrical power, are connected to generators.

Both engine types need a lot of fuel. Cunard QE2 , for example, consumes daily 380 tons of fuel when traveling at 29 knots speed and carries fuel enough to sail for 12 days. Usually, ships fill up at various seaports and use fueling barges as floating gas stations. Vessels use lower-grade diesel which tends not to burn as purely as diesel-powered road-going vehicles.

All ships rely on propellers/screws to be pushed through the water, providing forward and reverse motion. Airplanes, for example, require tremendous propeller speeds to provide the forward motion, but ship propellers don't need to turn so fast and rely on torque power. Therefore, ships travel slowly and rarely top 30 knots (for more info follow our speed-link above).

Cruise ship engine room

The basic detail about the cruise ship engine room is its location. For stability, the ship's heaviest weights are at its lowest possible deck, and usually, engines are mounted above the keel. Ship's lowest decks are almost entirely full of machinery. An area creating enough power for driving such an enormous vessel through water needs to be really big - very often engine rooms occupy at least three decks. Rather than long halls stretching the length of hulls, machinery is almost always divided into smaller compartments - one for the main engines, another for the heating/air-conditioning system. This compartmentalization is for safety reasons. If a penetration to the hull or fire happens, multiple compartments help contain the damage. The next photo shows the engine room of RCI's Oasis-Class vessels.

Rarely, engines are not placed at the ship's bottom. RMS Queen Mary 2's four main diesel engines are above the keel, with two smaller gas turbines on top-deck (aft of the funnel). It was not unusual for older liners to have 2 engine rooms. Gradually, technology allowed the consolidation of these spaces. However, current maritime legislation requires vessels to have equipment duplication and 2 engine rooms.

In May 2015, Wartsila Corporation and Carnival Corporation partnered to optimize cruise ship engine room operations of all 101 ships across the corporation's 9 brands. The deal was signed by Micky Arison (Carnival's Chairman) and Bjorn Rosengren (Wartsila's President and CEO). The plan included installing Wartsila's latest marine solutions, first tested on several Carnival Cruise Line vessels in pilot projects. The new systems and technologies included engine control and monitoring systems, safety and fuel efficiency equipment.

Wartsila's "Asset Performance Optimization Solution" package allows obtaining optimal performance from Wartsila marine diesel engines, recommends how to deal with potential issues, maximizes ship performance, ensures full-capacity systems operations, increases the predictability of fuel management and maintenance needs. Wartsila's fuel engine package was specifically designed to reduce fuel consumption.

Wartsila Marine technologies aim to optimize ship performance, but also allow to locate deviations from normal parameters of equipment and engines. This allows emerging problems and engine fault sources to be fixed before they occur.

Conventional diesel cruise ship engine

Today's direct-drive diesels feature one main advantage - the option to use a shaft generator, which is a device using the circular motion of the propeller shaft in order to generate the electricity needed for hotel services, like cooking and lighting.

Shaft generators can be used only while the ship is moving with a fairly constant cruising speed. This is what the NCL Epic cruise ship engine looks like:

Diesel-electric cruise ship engine

Almost all new ships feature a diesel-electric propulsion form. On these ships, main engines are not connected to propeller shafts, and instead of it they are directly connected to big generators in order to produce electricity, which is sent in turn to electric motors, that then power and help turn the propellers. The main advantage of the diesel-electric cruise ship engine systems is efficiency as they allow main engines to operate near the most efficient speed, no matter if the ship is moving at 5 or 25 knots.

Losing electrical power is devastating to ships. Main engines and generators require electricity and it's needed to keep them going. Pumps that are driven electrically take in cold ocean water to cool the engines and electrical pumps get fuel from fuel tanks and supply it to the engine. Electrical power is vital for many operational functions - without it, ships come to a halt.

Large equipment (propulsion motor, bow thrusters) requires electricity of high voltage. As for smaller machinery (cabin lights, galley equipment), the electricity goes through the transformer and is thus stepped down into lower voltage. Large cables snake through all the ships to distribute electrical power. They carry power from generators to switchboards, through passageways, public rooms, crew and passenger cabins. Cabling can be a weak point in the distribution system. If the electrical cables aren't truly redundant, even ships that feature two engine rooms suffer power failure.

While ships are docked, generators and main engines produce more power than needed. They are turned off in port, and smaller generators supply "hotel" loads (lights, air-conditioning, galley, etc.). Moving through water takes up the vast majority of the ship's power needs - about 85% of all the diesel-electric powerplant production is consumed by the propulsion system. The above photo is of the Vista-class Carnival cruise ship engine room. The engine type is "MAN 2 times; 14V48/60CR" (common-rail diesel injection system):

Cruise ship Emergency Generators

All ships are supplied with emergency generators to maintain vital electrical power. Backup generators are located higher up and also outside engine room spaces to isolate them from damage or fire.

Big ships require much power, so they might have more than one emergency generator. Despite that, they don't have the capacity of main generators and engines, don't produce electricity enough to move the ship, and can't supply all the power needed in ports, because of constraints in space.

Emergency generators are instead used only for essential navigation systems - crucial communication equipment, critical pumps in the engine room, emergency lighting. Should they also fail, vessels are required to have a battery backup. 24 hours of power are at least provided by battery rooms to the smaller emergency equipment list.

Probably you've heard about Carnival cruise ship accidents related to power failures in 2013. At our Carnival Fun Ship 2.0 upgrades link you can learn how CCL battled with this "unmaintained ships" image and implemented revolutionary new technology initiatives fleetwide - including an additional emergency backup generator on each of their vessels.

Cruise Ship Propulsion

The new cruise ship propulsion systems ABB Azipods XO (below photo) are more fuel-efficient than traditional systems, also providing better maneuverability, maximizing speed, reducing bad emissions, which as a whole optimizes ship's performance and enhances passenger safety.

ABB Azipod propulsion systems have a major impact on the vessel's operating efficiency - reducing energy consumption and bad emissions by up to 20%.

In 2019, ABB signed a deal with Oldendorff Carriers (1921-founded, Germany's largest bulk shipping company with a fleet of ~700 ships) for the supply and installation of Azipod propulsion systems on two newbuild carriers. Both self-unloading dry bulk vessels were China-built (by Chengxi Shipyard Co Ltd / subsidiary of CSSC) and scheduled for deliveries in 2021. Each vessel was fitted with two Azipods (power output 1,9 MW per unit) plus various related electric and digital solutions (powerplant, diesel-electric generators, bow thruster motors, transformers, switchboards, power management system, ABB Ability global ABB real-time monitoring).

Azipod cruise ship propulsion system

Azipod cruise ship propulsion system is situated outside the hull in the aft of the ship. Azipod turns in all directions (360 degrees) by a rudder, providing thrust in any directions, not possible for conventional systems.

See at the first photo at right RMS Queen Mary 2 's propulsion system scheme.

QM2's Azipod is actually an electric propulsion system consisting of the following main components:

• Propulsion motor - used to produce or drive thrust. The propeller's rotating is powered by an electric motor.
• Supply transformer - power produced by generators is 6600 KV, which is stepped down to the necessary voltage by supply transformer and is provided to the motor in the pod.
• Frequency controller - used to change the frequency of supplied power so that the rotating motor speed can be controlled.

Azipod marine ship propulsion is a combination of both steering and propulsion systems. Conventional marine propulsion systems use a two-stroke engine connected to a shaft, that passes through a stern tube and shaft tunnel to connect to the propeller outside the hull in the ship's aft/stern. This system's steering is done by a rudder (in the propeller's aft).

The above photo shows Oasis-class ship propulsion Azipods (2 units) before being mounted onto the hull. The next photo shows the Azipods (both units) mounted on the hull.

The 3rd Oasis-class ship - Harmony of the Seas, is currently the most technologically advanced and energy-efficient cruise vessel ever built. It is equipped with a new-generation exhaust gas cleaning system (multi-stream scrubbers) and also features a hull lubrication system allowing the ship to float on air bubbles (created around the hull) thus reducing drag and increasing fuel efficiency.

However, the steering and propulsion systems in Azipod arrangement, are combined into one part and the system consists of a propeller (driven by an electrical motor) turned by a rudder connected to the azipod system. The motor is inside the sealed pod and connected to the propeller.

The following YouTube video is about ABB Azipods installed on the new Genting Hong Kong vessels (Star Cruises' new ships and on Crystal Cruises' polar-class boats).

These ships incorporate a complete ABB propulsion - Azipods, electric power plant, computer automation, and software. Crystal cruise ships are powered by two "Azipod D" units allowing navigation in polar destinations. Each of the Star Cruises "Global-Class" vessels have three "Azipod XO" thrusters. All ships have installed ABB's "Intelligent Maneuvering Interface" and the "OCTOPUS" software optimizing fuel consumption and energy management. All these ships were constructed by the German shipbuilder MV Werften. Currently, almost 2/3 of all large-sized cruise vessels, icebreaking ships, and high ice-class cargo ships are with Azipod propulsion.

Advantages of Azipod propulsion marine systems

• A lot of space is saved by the Azipod cruise ship propulsion system in the engine room - there is no propeller, engine, shafting or other arrangements. This saved space can be used for storing cargo.
• Great maneuverability - the propeller can turn in all directions and enables crash maneuvering stop distance that is better than the conventional systems.
• Azipod cruise ship propulsion system can be placed below the ship's height and provide more efficiency than conventional systems.
• In case the ships have large breadth, two (or more) azipod systems, independent from one another, can be used to provide subtle maneuvering.
• Side thruster's use is eliminated as pods can be used to provide side thrust.
• Low lube oil and fuel consumption.
• Lower vibrations and noise than conventional systems.
• Because emissions are low, it's environment-friendly.

Disadvantages of the Azipod marine propulsion

• It requires great initial cost.
• Many diesel generators are needed for producing power.
• The power produced by the motor is limited - the maximum available power now is 21 MW.
• Azipod cruise ship propulsion systems can't be installed in heavy cargo ships that need large motors and a lot of power.

Royal Caribbean Quantum-class cruise ships propulsion

In April 2012 ABB made a USD 60-million contract to provide the Azipod propulsion systems for the new Royal Caribbean ships of the Quantum-class (Quantum, Anthem, Ovation) and Quantum Plus-class (Pulse, Passion). The former name of this vessel design was "Project Sunshine". Builder is Meyer Werft (Papenburg, Germany).

ABB also supplies the power generation, distribution systems, bow thrusters, and of course, the 2 x 20,500 kW propulsion Azipod XO units (at the photo at right), transformers and drives.

NCL Epic ship pod-propulsion

When entering service in 2004, the Cunard's QM2 was the biggest in the world at 150,000 GR tonnes. Her designer Stephen Payne showed the advantages of pod-propulsion giving vessels increased maneuverability. The propellers (screws) of the QM2 ship are mounted on the pods which rotate 360 degrees and provide advanced maneuverability. He made the choice to put pods - though relatively new and yet untested for big ships. Royal Caribbean vessels of Oasis, Freedom, and Voyager classes have pod-propulsion as many other big ships, which is opposed to the fixed traditional screws which push in one direction only.

An interesting fact about cruise ship propulsion is that Norwegian Epic doesn't have pods, though slightly bigger than Queen Mary 2 (at 153,000 GR tonnes), because of NCL concerns about the new technology. Some of the lines (including Celebrity and Cunard) have suffered vessel breakdowns due to pod-bearing failures. Lots of voyages had to be canceled, extensive dry-docking periods were required for pod bearings to be replaced, and NCL didn't want to take the risk.

Currently, NCL Norwegian Epic has two rudders with conventional non-Azipod screws. But how does she manage to maneuver if they can push in one direction only? One option is to make them bigger and more effective when maneuvering, another is to add additional mini-pods or install full-sized pods. Only time will tell if any of these will actually ever happen.

Rolls-Royce cruise ship propulsion system "Promas Lite"

In November 2013, the manufacturing giant Rolls-Royce upgraded Hurtigruten's ship MS Richard With its new "Promas Lite" propulsion system (integrated propeller-rudder system). This is an older ship, and Promas Lite was the perfect choice as it is a combined "propeller-rudder" system increasing the efficiency of older passenger vessels with lesser tonnage. The upgrade significantly reduced Hurtigruten's operating costs on this vessel. The improved propeller efficiency was estimated to be between 11-14% at a cruising speed of 15 knots (17 mph / 28kph).

Promas propulsion integrates propeller, hubcap, rudder bulb and the rudder into a single unit which can increase propulsion's efficiency by 3-8% (1-screw vessels) and by 2-6% (2-screw vessels). It also improves maneuverability, reduces fuel consumption and bad emissions. The new modular technology allows efficient and cost-effective custom-made systems to be built up from various existing and standard parts - mooring winches, anchor cable lifters, warping heads.

Hurtigruten was compensated with ~80% of its total investment in Promas Lite marine propulsion upgrades as the Norwegian Government has this NOx fund encouraging shipowners and operators to upgrade their vessels and invest in new marine technologies that reduce NOx emissions. The Promas Lite propulsion future clients, besides passenger ships, are marine vessels like fishing and freighter ships.

After Norwegian Spirit (the first ship in NCL fleet with installed Promas Lite in 2011), in May 2014 the Star Cruises ship SuperStar Virgo became Southeast Asia's first passenger liner with RR's Promas Lite propulsion. Fincantieri used Promas Lite propulsion for all Viking Ocean liners.

Cruise Ship Power

The cruise ship engine power is responsible for driving propellers, and the other possibility is producing electricity that is used subsequently to drive propellers. The engine's effectiveness depends not only on the design but also the ship's shape, weight, and size. Power is measured in horsepower traditionally - one horsepower equals 746 watts. The next photo shows the world's largest passenger ships' engine that powers each of the Royal Caribbean Oasis-class vessels.

Marine steam engines

The cruise industry began in 1844, when ships were propelled by steam engines, performing the driving of propellers by using steam as working fluid. The largest passenger steamship (before hitting an iceberg on April 14, 1912) was the Titanic, powered by both reciprocating engines and turbines, able to generate 50,000 horsepower (37 megawatts).

Marine diesel engines

Usually, ships are powered by four or five generator sets (medium-speed, 500 revolutions per minute), fueled by diesel and creating 8-10 MW energy each. The power density of marine diesel medium-speed engine is 80 kilowatts per cubic meter. Ships that use diesel engines are required to carry exhaust-treatment systems and catalytic-reduction equipment to reduce the environmental impact.

Marine nuclear power engines

The building of the US first and only merchant nuclear-powered ship was commissioned in the 1950s by President Eisenhower. Of total cost $46.9 million, on the fuel core and nuclear reactor was spent more than $28 million. The ship operated only for five years (1965-1970) but due to the high running costs, its service was terminated.

Marine gas turbines

The first company that fitted cruise vessels with gas turbines, was Royal Caribbean. Gas turbines are greener than diesel engines and allow ships to sail with reduced inventory and smaller maintenance crew. Gas turbines drive generators which in turn provide electricity to propeller motors. They recover heat from gas turbines' exhaust, which then is used to produce the electricity needed for onboard services (air conditioning, water heating).

Rolls Royce is the manufacturer of the world's largest GAS marine turbine "Rolls-Royce MT30". The turbine will provide the immense 109 MW of power for the 2 propellers, all the weaponry, radars, command sys, etc. of the new generation UK aircraft carriers of the Queen Elizabeth class. To this class belong HMS Queen Elizabeth (2017-commissioned) and HMS Prince of Wales (2019-commissioned), each of them with a total power consumption of 80 MW.

Gas-turbine cruise ship power system

The first large vessel to use a new gas-turbine cruise ship propulsion system was Celebrity Millennium . This system will be more frequently used in new cruise ship buildings . It's innovative and, besides new activities available, the economy of scale, marketing, represents an important element of ship design. System's advantages include:

• lower vibrations and noise level, better comfort, lower probability of failure;
• lower exploitation costs because of the easier maintenance;
• nocive emissions reduction, which is partially owed to gas oil instead of fuel (-90% oxide of sulfur, -80% oxide of azote).
• considerable gain of weight and volume, especially when with Azipod marine propulsion system (900 tons, 70 cabins added).

Gas turbines at this time are only interesting in the building of high-speed ships (warships, and especially aircraft carriers, or fast passenger vessels - Millennium max speed is 25kn), because of the better diesel output in lower speeds and higher price of gasoil instead of fuel for diesel engines.

Gas turbine cruise ship propulsion systems are able to avoid pre-heating systems needed for fuel in classic installations (risk of fire!), as they use gasoil, Celebrity's Millenium-class and RCI's Radiance-class use such turbine powerplants. The next photo shows Celebrity's Solstice-class ship propulsion (the 4 aft azipods, and the underwater hull shape).

LNG-powered cruise ships

In June 2015, Carnival Corporation announced the company's contract with Fincantieri to build four LNG-powered vessels with the industry's largest passenger capacity. This was part of the order with Meyer Werft and Fincantieri for a total of 9x units to be built in the period 2019-2022.

The four newbuilds became the industry's first LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) powered vessels using LNG in their hybrid engines. The gas is stored in the ship and used to generate all needed power at sea. The engines are not exclusively LNG, but "dual fuel" (capable of burring both liquid marine fuel and natural gas). This design is for saving onboard space (reducing fuel storage space required).

LNG is natural gas, which consists of 90% methane and 10% ethane. When cooled to -160 C, it passes from gas to liquid, and its volume decreases over 600 times, making it very efficient for distribution. Long-distance LNG transportation is via dual-hull gas carriers. Short-distance LNG transportation is via trucks or smaller vessels (also barges) fitted with high-pressure tanks.

Gas fuel eliminates all the bad emissions - soot and sulfur oxides. In April 2016 MSC Cruises announced its contract with STX France for up to four LNG-powered ships with GT over 200,000 tons each. For comparison, the Oasis of the Seas is 225,000 GT tons. The new MSC ships have 5400 passengers capacity at double occupancy each. The first one is scheduled for delivery in 2022. Its power plant will be based on a new prototype engine.

Using LNG to power large cruise ships is a relatively new (2016) concept. Due to LNG tanks' large sizes, this fuel is used usually on smaller passenger shipping vessels ( ferries ) operating on short crossing itineraries. LNG bunkering facilities available in ports are very few. Compared to other fuels (including MGO / marine gas oil), LNG is purer (no unburned residues, fewer greenhouse gases), more efficient, stable and cheaper (reduces fuel costs). LNG technology also advances due to IMO's future maritime emissions regulations, especially in ports and while operating in environmentally sensitive destinations.

In comparison to pipeline gas, LNG is superior in quality - purer, with more methane and other energy content. Its chemical structure also has a stable composition that doesn't generate unburned residues, soot or any particulates. In addition, because the fuel is so clean, on LNG-powered ships maintenance intervals are doubled (over 25,000 hours / ~10140 days), as opposed to the standard MDO-powered 12,500 hours (520 days).

• All the world's major environmental organizations and the marine shipping industry joined for an explicit prohibition on the carriage of non-compliant fuels when the 0,5% sulfur cap takes effect in 2020.
• In January 2018, IMO announced that starting January 1, 2020, the marine fuels' max allowed sulfur content (outside Emission Control Areas) is reduced from the previous 3,5% to 0,5%. Unless marine vessels are using approved equivalent compliance methods, after Jan 2020 there is no reason for ships to use non-compliant diesel fuels.
• IMO's new sulfur cap's goal is to provide substantial health benefits by reducing marine fuels' sulfur content (SOx gases). At the same time, IMO's lowered cap significantly increases ships' operating costs.

The LNG cruise ship concept was first introduced by Wartsila (Finnish manufacturing company) and is based on drive shaft propulsion instead of azipods. The LNG tanks' location is in the upper deck area (right below the funnels). The Rolls Royce concept is based on azipods.

AIDAprima (2016) is one of the world's most technologically advanced cruise vessels. The ship rides on a cushion of air, thus reducing frictions and fuel consumption, The new technology is called MALS ("Mitsubishi Air Lubrication System"), allowing the liner to glide on an air bubbles carpet.

The ship's 4 main engines are dual-fuel (heavy oil and LNG gas oil) thus reducing fuel consumption. The ship has an advanced filtering system that reduces stack emissions (greenhouse gases). The ship's propulsion features 1 pair of stabilizers and 2x ABB-pod drives (new XO-Pod series, power output per unit: is 3 MW). The total power output is 48 MW. AIDAprima is also the world's first-ever "LNG cruise ship" as it uses LNG fuel supply while berthed in ports.

For its LNG-bunkering operations in Florida (at homeports PortMiami and Port Canaveral ), CCL-Carnival partnered with Royal Dutch Shell plc as fuel supplier for the liners Mardi Gras (2021) and Celebration (2022).

AIDA's LNG-powered cruise ships

The AIDAprima ship's first successful test run for LNG supply was in Hamburg Germany on May 7, 2016. While berthed, the ship was successfully provided with LNG at all the itinerary's ports of call (Hamburg, Rotterdam, Le Havre, Southampton, Zeebrugge).

• The company's statistics show that the AIDA ship spends about 40% of its operating time in ports. Compared to using conventional marine diesel (0,1% sulfur content), by using LNG, the vessel's emissions were considerably reduced even further. Sulfur oxides and soot particles were prevented completely (while in port), nitrogen oxide emission was reduced by up to 80%, CO2 emissions were lowered by 20%.
• AIDA ships (produced by Shipyard Papenburg ) are 100% LNG-powered. AIDA invested in research and testing of LNG cruise ship technologies since 2015. In 2013, AIDA collaborated on LNG hybrid barges with Becker Marine Systems. The innovative and flexible solution is used on ships moored in Port Hamburg.
• Since May 30, 2015, AIDAsol is regularly supplied with low-emission LNG power at Hamburg's Hafencity Cruise Terminal.
• AIDA ships use just 3 liters (0,8 US gallons) of fuel on average per person on board for a 100 km (62 ml) trip. This was confirmed by an independent expert study in 2012. Following the implementation of new technologies and economical handling of resources, the company's statistics for 2016 (over 2012) showed reduced energy consumption (9% per person onboard), reduced water consumption (7,2% pp) and reduced CO2 emissions (7,7% pp).

Hurtigruten ships

In April 2018, the Norwegian cruise and ferry company Hurtigruten announced a USD 150 million fleet renovation project. Almost all vessels will be upgraded with new hybrid powerplants that combine LNG-engines and batteries.

For the project was contracted Rolls-Royce Marine, initially for 6 ships plus optional another 3. The program's completion was scheduled before January 1, 2021. The project also includes all vessels to be upgraded with shore power capabilities.

Dual-engine ferries (LNG-MDO)

The next scheme shows the dual-engine powerplant (Wartsila) and propulsion (Azipod) of the cruise ferry Tallink Megastar . This ship is the biggest "floating superstore" on the Baltic Sea, featuring a 2-deck retail shopping complex and the unique self-service option called "Q-shopping". The RoPax vessel uses LNG as prime fuel and MDO (marine diesel oil) as secondary fuel.

The ship is powered by a total of five Wartsila dual-fuel engines - three 12-cylinder (model 12V50DF, combined output 34,2 MW) plus two 6-cylinder (model 6L50DF, combined output 11,4 MW). Ferryboat's total power output is 45,6 MW. Its propulsion system includes two Wartsila fixed-pitch propellers with twin propeller shafts. Navigation systems are also Wartsila-made, including NACOS Platinum (integrated vessel control system).

The power generated by the main engines/powerplant produces electricity that is used from the propulsion motors, as well as all auxiliary systems and hotel functions. This innovative maritime technology allows the engines to be started and stopped depending on the onboard electricity demand, which additionally improves fuel efficiency.

Vessel's hull is ice-strengthened (class 1A). Rudders are from Becker Marine Systems. When compared to traditional marine engines, in gas mode, the ship's engines produce 1/4 less COx, 2/3 less NOx, zero SOx and no soot particles.

The onboard LNG system consists of 2 bunker stations, 2 horizontal LNG storage tanks by Linde (cryogenic, vacuum-insulated, stainless steel, total gas volume 600 m3), double-walled bunkering lines, pipelines (acid-proof stainless steel), special pipe fittings, gas distribution system, steam boilers. All the ship's electrical equipment is certified "explosion-proof". The LNG is stored at temperatures -160 Celsius (-256 Fahrenheit) and under pressure 4-6 bars.

ABB supplied the vessel's power and electric propulsion systems, as well as the Octopus (smart energy management system). While mechanical propulsion is optimized for a single-speed, electric propulsion is based on rotating speed control resulting in energy efficiency at all speeds. ABB's propulsion also improves passenger comfort as the ship runs much more quietly and smoothly. ABB's Octopus marine technology allows real-time monitoring of the vessel's energy (and fuel) consumption. Based on the collected data, the software suggests optimal performance recommendations.

Spain's first LNG-powered cruiseferry was Hypatia de Alejandria (2019) owned by BALEARIA .

Wind-assisted propulsion

On April 12, 2018, the VIKING LINE -owned ferry Viking Grace became the world's first-ever passenger ship equipped with a rotor sail utilizing wind power. This also made it the world's first hybrid vessel that uses both wind power and dual-fuel (diesel-gas) engines.

"Rotor Sail Solution" is an innovative technology developed by the company Norsepower Ltd (Finland) in 5 years. It reduces fuel consumption and also COx emissions up to 900 tons per year (depending on wind conditions).

The cylindrical rotor sail has a height of 24 m (79 ft) and a diameter of 4 m (13 ft). The technology is based on the "Flettner rotor" (patented by Anton Flettner in 1922) and uses the so-called "Magnus effect" - the spinning rotor (rotating cylinder) drags airflow faster around one side. This creates pressure/speed difference that moves it in the direction of the opposite (lower-pressure) side, creating a force at a right angle to the direction of the wind. This wind-assisted propulsion power drives the ship forward. Unlike traditional cloth sails, the rotor needs no furling (stowing), reefing (reducing sail's area) or line-tending. The rotor sail system is automated and shuts down when unfavorable changes in wind force or direction occur.

Added to the dual-fuel engines, the new technology makes Viking Grace one of the world's most environmentally-friendly passenger ships, operating with very low levels of emissions and noise. Norsepower's wind propulsion system was also installed on VIKING LINE's newest vessel (still unnamed) scheduled for delivery in 2020. The China-built ferryboat is equipped with two Norsepower-produced rotor sails, doubling its wind power potential.

Ship's powerplant includes 4x Wartsila engines (model 8L50DF, total power output 30,4 MW). Propulsion is diesel-electric (2x shafts with fixed-pitch propellers) and wind-assisted (with 1x rotor sail). Engines are dual-fuel (MDO-LNG). As gas tanks are larger than marine fuel tanks. they need 6 times more space. To save hull space, LNG tanks are located on an open deck. LNG tanks are two (type C / vacuum insulated), each with capacity 200 m3 and weight 140 tons (LNG weight 85 tons per tank).

MS Viking Grace is also the world's first ship with the energy recycling system "Ocean Marine" (developed by Climeon AB / Stockholm-based company). The system converts the excess heat (generated by engines and exhausts) into clean (emission-free) electricity with an annual capacity of 700,000 kWh. This electricity is primarily used on cabin decks (including for heating, hot water, lighting). The technology uses heat exchangers that evaporate a carrier fluid circulating in a closed system. This gas (at 2-bar pressure) drives a turbine, then a 100 kW generator produces electricity. After that, the gas is cooled (in a vacuum chamber) and liquefied. Cooling is rapid, as the cold fluid is sprayed out. Then Heat exchangers cool the carrier fluid to temperatures around 20 C / 68 F.

Cruise Ship Fuel Consumption

How much fuel do cruise ships use.

Cruise ship fuel consumption depends on the ship's size. For most vessels, the average consumption is 30-50 miles on a fuel gallon. This will be also determined by other factors using fuel. Ships' gas mileage varies depending on the type and size of ship, the number of passengers on board, and other factors. Larger ships need more fuel to move through the water.

RMS Queen Mary uses 6 tons of marine fuel per hour. Celebrity Eclipse gets 56 feet to the gallon. MS Zuiderdam - .0130 miles per gallon (0.34 tons fuel per mile). This may not seem very good mileage at first glance, however, cruise ships are moving at once thousands of people whereas a car is moving a few.

Nearly all contemporary cruise ships are powered by electricity (motors turn propellers). It powers the air conditioning systems, lights and all other appliances aboard the ship. Most vessels produce the electricity they need by using diesel engines. Some use gas turbine engines. Others use a combination of the two. HFO (heavy fuel oil) is used by diesel engines, while MGO (marine gas oil) is used by gas turbine engines. The MGO is similar to the jet airplanes' fuel.

Speed affects cruise ship fuel consumption because to go faster, vessels must increase the electricity flow to motors. Thus more engines are employed, and it, in turn, increases fuel consumption. For example, Queen Mary 2 consumes 237 tons MGO and 261 tons HFO a day when at full speed. After a certain point, the rate of return decreases from adding engines, because if a ship can manage 17 knots by two engines, it doesn't mean that four engines are going to produce 34 knots.

Cruise companies employ new technologies in order to reduce fuel consumption. Ship's hull, for example, can be applied by silicon coating in order to reduce friction as the ship goes through the water. Friction reduction on Celebrity Eclipse is 5%. Another experiment is LED lighting, using less energy and producing less heat (thus is reduced the demand for electricity and air conditioning). Celebrity Solstice-class vessels have solar panels' field over the AquaSpa pool area. This not only provides shade for the pool area but produced by solar panels electricity is used to decrease the electricity demand from the engines.

RMS Queen Mary 2 is equipped with exhaust gas economizers, using waste heat from engines to produce steam. Then steam is used to heat fuel and QM2 hotel accommodations, laundry, galleys. This reduces the energy amount that has to be produced by ship's engines. The Promas Lite system (mentioned above) generates cruise ship fuel savings in the range of 5-15% depending on the operation type and the actual performance of the ship's existing propeller.

How marine ships fuel consumption increases at higher speeds? Next infographic shows the speed-fuel consumption relation on container ships (their sizes are measured in TEU-containers/20 ft equivalent units), which are similar by speeds and even gross tonnage to cruise passenger ships.

Cruise Ship Pollution

Today cruising is one of the most popular vacations, but there are significant environmental downsides. Mega-ships burn the dirtiest fuel in the world, even if they are sitting in port. Asthma, cancer, respiratory illness, heart disease, are the results of burned in ports nasty bunker fuel.

Shore-to-Ship Power Supply

Those who support the cruise industry point out that cruising has never been more popular. However, more ships generate more pollution. A solution is to have docked vessels plug into the port's shore power grid. Most of the world's largest cruise ports have such dockside electrical hookups, reducing bad emissions by up to 95%.

Aka "cold ironing" and "shore-to-ship power", shore power capability allows berthed cruise ships to shut down their diesel engines (main and auxiliary) and plug into city's electrical grid, using locally-produced electricity for all shipboard equipment and services - including cooling, heating, lighting, emergency, etc. The technology greatly reduces exhaust emissions in seaports. Next video animation reviews this technology.

TUI Cruises Ships Environmental Report

TUI published the company's environmental impact report (first of its kind) including environmental objectives and TUI strategy for a 5-years period. TUI said it planned to issue reports every 2 years. According to it, in 2012 TUI reduced by 3.7% per nautical mile its fuel consumption, and expects further 5% reduction, reducing CO2 emission at the same time by 0.5 kg to 0.55 kg per traveler.

Energy efficiencies are the key to reduce fuel consumption, CO2, and other emissions, and contribute to climate protection. Mein Schiff 3, for example, is expected to feature special energy management systems that help to consume 30% less energy than comparable size ships. TUI is focused on reducing recycling and waste, too. In 2012, TUI reduced the waste amount to 10,7 L (per passenger day), which is 27,8% less (over 2011). In 2012, TUI used 54,463 tons of fuel, including 9,732 tons LSFO (low sulfur fuel oil), 40,880 tons HFO (heavy fuel oil) and 3,851 tons MDO (marine diesel oil). Fuel consumption was 0,367 tons per nautical mile.

All new TUI ships are built to the latest standards with environmentally-friendly marine technologies. These vessels, both as design (hull and superstructure) and implemented technologies, are highly energy-efficient. Each consumes 1/3 less energy compared to most cruise liners. The advanced exhaust cleaning system uses a catalytic and scrubber converter. This technology allows sulfur emissions to be reduced by 99%, and NOx emissions - by 75%.

All-electric passenger ships

In May 2019, the US company "Maid of the Mist" ordered ABB two new all-electric vessels for the company's Niagara Falls tours. Both catamarans are 100% emission-free being powered by high-capacity batteries. Each ship is fitted with two battery packs (combined capacity 316 kWh / 563 HP output). The electricity is provided by 2 fully-independent power systems and split evenly between the 2 hulls.

Shoreside battery charging takes just 7 min (per ship). The powerplant is controlled by ABB's PEMS (Power and Energy Management System), which also optimizes the onboard energy use. Ships' batteries are charged using hydropower (water-generated electricity), which as of 2019 accounts for ~7% of the USA's total electricity production. In addition to the shoreside charging connection, ABB supplied the newbuilds with switchboards, motors, integrated control systems and ABB Ability's Marine Remote Diagnostic System (24-hour equipment monitoring and predictive maintenance).

Battery power is used during turnaround navigation in ports when the onboard diesel-electric generators are switched off. For ferry batteries (fabrication, delivery, and installation) is often contracted the Canadian company Corvus Energy (Richmond BC) - one of the world's largest manufacturers and suppliers of energy storage solutions (ESS) for the maritime industry. The company provides ESS to hybrid and all-electric ferries. As of 2019, Corvus Energy delivered its innovative product line "Orca ESS" to 200+ vessel conversion/upgrade projects, totaling 200+ MWh.

At the following tag-link can be found listed all CruiseMapper's news related to propulsion-power accidents .

This cruise vessel technology-related survey is integrated with our articles on passenger ships building and safety , and the statistical ones about registry/flag-states , cost to build , speed , passenger capacity . All ship links redirect to the vessel's "itinerary-schedule-current position" page.

The Shipyard

For Those Who Love Ships

• Cruise Ships

How Cruise Ships Work (Part 3): The Bridge and the Engine Room

It’s like back in the days when we were little children. Grandpaw’s almost mystical tool shed was strictly off limits, but we were just dying to have a peek, weren’t we? Now that we are all grown up, Grandpaw’s gadgets are old news, but there is still a place or two on a cruise ship that remains like a pie in the sky for all of us obsessed by ships.

It’s the heart of the matter, it’s where it all happens, it’s the real deal. And if you are anything like me, you would gladly give away a day at the spa, a dessert buffet and even two, or the latest Marvel flick in the movie theater, just to spend a precious hour down in the noisy engine room of your favorite cruise ship. But life being proverbially unfair, modern cruise lines rarely allow their passengers to enter the bridge or the engine rooms of their ships, unless the visit is part of a specially organized guided tour. Some cruise ships have a window from which passengers can observe what’s going on in the bridge, but only if they promise not to disturb the officers. Which is really hard, when you badly want to touch everything…

So until the next time someone lets me out of sight and I make my umptieth attempt at trespassing to the engine room, let’s have a quick virtual tour of a cruise ship’s most forbidden and exciting parts.

The bridge is the brain of the ship. It is from there that the captain and his officers command and maneuver the ship, keep watch for other vessels or potential hazards, and navigate through the oceans. 

For twenty-four hours each day, the bridge is occupied by two Deck Officers and two Able Seamen, traditionally in four-hour shifts. The main job of the Officer of the Watch is to monitor the ship’s systems and surroundings, and to ensure that everything is running safely and smoothly. During extreme weather, docking, or other special cases, the Captain of the ship is also present on the bridge to guide the deck officers.

The term “bridge” comes from the time of the paddle steamers, where a bridge was built above the two paddle houses that used to hold the paddle wheels. This way the skipper could observe both wheels, while moving freely between the two and giving out commands. On today’s cruise ships, the bridge is usually on the upper deck in the forward part of the ship and extends over the sides of the superstructure, allowing deck officers a view to the sides of the ship as well as down to the waterline. The side extensions are called bridge wings and often have a glass flooring for better visibility.

The bridge houses a number of important nautical devices and information systems for command and navigation of the ship.

Satellite Navigation

The signals emitted by special navigation satellites are picked up by the cruise ship through a special antenna. On board, a computer converts these signals into the exact position of the ship at a given time. On large ships, the position indicator is constantly recorded in a so-called electronic nautical chart.

Satellites also enable automatic positioning systems on modern cruise ships. The positioning system is controlled from the bridge and it uses GPS to ensure that the ship stays at a defined location. When the captain defines a position where the ship needs to remain for a while without anchoring, the system automatically maintains the ship in position by using the bow and stern thrusters.

Modern cruise ships carry a gyro compass and a magnetic compass. The gyro compass consists of a fast-rotating disk, usually positioned in a gimbal. It is a non-magnetic compass oriented parallel to the axis of rotation of the earth and thus indicates the north-south direction.

The gyro compass is more accurate and reliable than the magnetic compass and is therefore the primary reference point for steering the ship. The magnetic compass on board is more prone to inaccuracies and it serves only as back-up.

The word radar stands for Radio Detection And Ranging. Radars are devices that allow us to locate distant objects from a given location, regardless of visibility and weather conditions. The radar emits electromagnetic waves to an object, then receives back the reflected echoes from that object, and interprets them based on distances and angles. These interpretations enable us to determine where an object lies, and in some cases even what its contours look like. In the shipping industry, radars are used for monitoring traffic in ports and coastal regions, for collision protection, for collecting weather data, and for navigation.

Speed logs are devices that measure the speed of the ship. There are two main types of speed logs: Doppler logs and electromagnetic logs.

The Doppler logs send out underwater sound signals. When the sound wave reaches the sea floor, it gets reflected and then returns to the receiver of the log. Due to the movement of the ship relative to the seabed, a Doppler effect occurs and is evaluated by the device. As long as the sound waves can reach the bottom of the sea and return to the receiver, the Doppler log measures the distance travelled over ground. However, if it is no longer possible to use the seabed as a reference, the device uses particles suspended in the water, such as plankton and minerals, to measure travel through the water.  

The electromagnetic logs create an electromagnetic field in the water around the ship, with the aid of a small alternating current and a transducer. A voltage proportional to the speed of the ship is generated in the water and is picked up by special sensors, which then transfer the information to an electronic device for interpretation. From the electronic device, the speed is then transmitted onto the displays in the bridge.

Echo Sounder

Cruise ships also have an echo sounder, a device used for the electro-acoustic measurement of water depths (sounding). The depth is determined by measuring the time between the emission of a sound impulse (water sound) and the arrival of the sound waves reflected from the bottom of the sea. The main purpose of echo sounders in cruise ships is safe navigation through waters.

Electronic Chart Display and Information System

The Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) is a console, built into the bridge of modern cruise ships, which incorporates the main engine safety system, fire control system, monitoring and control system, power management system, propulsion control system and navigation and maneuvering system. The ECDIS allows for navigation of the ship without the need of traditional paper charts. Navigation can be done manually, automatically, or through the Navigation and Command System (NACOS).

The NACOS is the main software used to coordinate all factors that need to be taken into consideration, in order to navigate and maneuver the ship safely. The console is composed of a number of displays showing information from the radars and compasses, data about the course of the ship and planned maneuvers, the current status of the pitch of the thrusters, the speed of the ship, and anything else concerning the steering of the ship. An intelligent autopilot tracks changes in the behavior of the ship through navigational sensors. If the ship drifts off its course due to strong winds, for example, the system automatically responds to correct the change by sending signals straight to the engine room. Once the signal is received by the engines, the rudder or thrusters of the ship are activated and move to the position given by the system. The displays on the bridge show both the angle of the rudder or thrusters, as well as the rate and the radius of the maneuver in progress.

The Engine Room

The engine room is the heart of a cruise ship. It is here that pistons hammer and crankshafts turn to propel the ship forward. It is the loud and oily place where the Chief Engineer and his team work around the clock to ensure that everything is running smoothly. It is the engine room of the ship that allows for the luxuries of air-conditioning, electricity, and plumbing on board cruise ships.

In future articles we will have the chance to explore the contents of the engine room in all the excruciating detail that they deserve, so to all the techies out there – I’ve got you covered. Just stay tuned.

Most larger ships have more than one engine room to house their machinery. The arrangement of the engine room can vary depending on the type, design, and size of the ship. For stability reasons, the engine machinery is typically placed as low as possible in the ship’s bowels and often takes up several decks in height. The machine rooms are split into watertight compartments, each housing different machinery.

Today’s cruise ships operate on diesel or diesel-electric engines. Their operating principle does not differ much from the old days of coal steamers, except for the medium used to generate power. While back in the day ocean liners used steam to move the engine’s pistons, modern cruise ships use diesel fuel. Today’s diesel engines are composed of the engine unit itself, gearboxes, shafts and generators. Some ships also have shaft generators which create electricity from the turning movement of the propeller shaft. The electricity is then used in the cabins, on deck and in the kitchens.

The latest generation of cruise ships are equipped with diesel electric engines. Instead of the more traditional engine-shaft-propeller arrangement, in this case the engines are connected to generators to create electricity. The generators power electric motors, and the electric motors move the propellers.

Aside from the engines and generators, the machinery that occupies the engine rooms includes pumps and heat exchangers for engine cooling, stabilizer fins and their motors, as well as the ship’s bow thruster system.

Since all of the equipment in the engine room is highly dependent on electricity, modern cruise ships also have back-up generators, usually located outside the main engine room, to protect them in case of fire. While these generators cannot produce enough power to keep the ship moving, they produce enough to keep some of the vital functions of the ship running, such as powering the emergency lights and the communication and navigation systems. In case the back-up generators fail, cruise ships are also equipped with a back-up battery that allows some of these functions to continue running for short periods of time. 

All the machinery in the engine rooms is monitored in the Engine Control Room (ECR). The ECR is a room full of screens, lights, alarms, and switches from where the current operational status of every piece of equipment can be checked.

The main switchboard of the ECR is used to distribute the generated electricity to where it is needed on board. The ERC is also where the engineering team comes together to discuss and plan the safe running of the engine rooms, to take decisions in emergency situations, to consult the technical manuals and drawings of the ship, to restart certain pieces of machinery if necessary, and to maintain communication with the bridge. Communication between the ECR and the bridge is crucial for the safe operation of the ship, especially during docking, moving through shallow waters, maneuvering, and changes in the course or speed of the ship.

This concludes our three-part overview of how a cruise ship functions. Now that we have covered the basics, in future articles we can explore all the specifics to our hearts’ content. As always, don’t hesitate to leave your constructive comments below and feel free to suggest topics you want to know more about – chances are I want to know more about them too!

Stay in touch and I’ll see you next time!

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How Ship’s Engine Works?

Marine engines on ships are responsible for propulsion of the vessel from one port to another.  Whether it’s of a small ship plying in the coastal areas or of a massive one voyaging international waters, a marine engine of either 4-stroke or 2-stroke is fitted onboard ship for the propulsion purpose.

The marine engines are heat engines used for converting heat, which is generated by burning fuel, into useful work, i.e. developing thermal energy and transforming it into mechanical energy. The engines used onboard ships are internal combustion engines (a type), in which, the combustion of fuel takes place inside the engine cylinder and the heat is generated post the combustion process.

Ship Engine Working Principle

As mentioned earlier, IC (Internal combustion) engines are mainly used for marine propulsion and power generation purpose. The working of the marine engine can be explained by the following procedure:

– The fuel is injected at a controlled amount at high pressure

– A mixture of fuel and air is compressed inside the engine cylinder with the help of piston, which results in the explosion of the mixture when pressurized due to compression. As a result, heat is released which increases the pressure of the burning gas

– The sudden increase in the pressure pushes the piston downwards and transmits the transverse motion into the rotary motion of the crankshaft using connecting rod arrangement. The explosion is repeated continuously for maintaining the power output depending upon the type of marine engine and its usage.

Related Read: 14 Terminologies Used for Power of the Ship’s Marine Propulsion Engine

The crankshaft is connected via a flywheel, either to the alternator or to a propeller arrangement for doing the mechanical work. To obtain continuous rotation of the crankshaft the explosion has to be repeated continuously.

Before the next explosion, the used gases are drawn out from the cylinder through an exhaust valve and fresh air is supplied, which helps to push the used gas and also to provide fresh air for next combustion process.

Related Read: Components and Design of Exhaust Gas System 

Types of marine diesel engines:

The two basic types of marine diesel engines are –

• 4 stroke engine
• 2 stroke engine

A 4 stroke engine can be installed on the ship to produce electrical power and also to propel the ship (usually in small size vessel). This engine takes 4 cycles to complete the transfer of power from the combustion chamber to the crankshaft.

Related Read:  Why 2-stroke Engines are Used More commonly for propulsion than 4-stroke on Ships?

The events taking place in I.C. engine are as follows:

• Suction stroke for taking the fresh air inside the chamber – which is the downward movement of the piston
• Compression stroke to compress the air-fuel mixture – which is an upward movement of the piston
• Power stroke – in which the explosion takes place and the piston is pushed downwards
• Exhaust stroke – which is an upward movement of the piston to draw out used gases

The four events are completed in four strokes of the piston (two revolutions of the crankshaft). An inlet and exhaust valve is fitted on top of the cylinder head to draw in fresh air and to expel the used exhaust gas.

Both, the valves and the fuel pump (which supply fuel to the injector), are operated using camshaft, which is driven by crankshaft using a gear drive. In a four-stroke engine, the camshaft runs at half the speed of the crankshaft. The crankcase is open to the piston liner arrangement, which assists in the lubrication of the liner.

The 2 stroke engines are used for vessel propulsion and are bigger in size as compared to the 4 stroke engines. In this engine, the complete sequence is complete in two cycles i.e.

• Suction and compression stroke –  which is the upward movement of the piston to draw fresh air inside and to compress the air-fuel mixture
• Power and exhaust – which is the downward movement of the piston due to an explosion inside the chamber followed by removal of exhaust through the exhaust valve fitted on the top of the cylinder. A stuffing box is used which separates and seals the crankcase against the combustion chamber.

A basic ship engine working video is shown below:

This video shows how a 2 stroke marine engine on ship works-

How and where is ship’s engine made?

If you have seen engines on ships, including small 4 stroke generator engines and also the massive 2 stroke propulsion engines, one thought which must have crossed your mind is how and where these engines were made?

The most famous engine manufacturers, whose engines, are used in ships are:

• MAN Diesel & Turbo (Previously B&W engines)  – famous for high, medium and slow speed marine engines
• Wartsila (Previously Sulzer Engines) – famous for high, medium and slow speed marine engines
• Mitsubishi – producing engines for light, medium, and heavy-duty applications
• Rolls Royce – famous for the cruise ship and naval ship engines
• Caterpillar manufactures – for medium speed and high-speed marine diesel engines

Related Read:  The Most Popular Marine Propulsion Engines in the Shipping Industry

Wartsila is still the Guinness World Record holder for the largest ship engine ever built.

The Wärtsilä RT-flex96C two-stroke engine fitted with turbocharger holds this record. Manufactured for large container ships , its dimensions are as follows:

Length – 27 metres (88 ft 7 in),

Height- 13.5 metres (44 ft 4 in)

weight > 2,300 tonnes.

Power output~ 84.42 Megawatts (114,800 bhp).

The size of the ship engine varies from ship to ship, type of stroke it has, and its power output. The ship engine can be as high as a 5 story building, and to accommodate it, the ship engine room has to be designed accordingly.

Where are marine engines made?

These marine engines are built at the facilities of the manufacturers. For e.g. MAN Diesel has production facilities in Augsburg, Copenhagen, Frederikshavn, Saint-Nazaire, Shanghai, etc.

Similarly, Wartsila has facilities in Finland, Germany, China etc.

The ship’s engine can also be made in reputed shipyard if there is a contract between the two companies.

The engine is usually made in three different sections (explained below) and depending upon the size of the engine room and access for the installation, it can be fitted in the shipyard either in sections or as an entire assembly.

Related Read:  How Massive Main Engines are Fitted in the Ship’s Engine Room?

Material Used For Making Ship Engine

The material used for making the ship’s engine and different ship engine parts are:

Bedplate: The bedplate is the bottom-most portion of the engine which is the base of the engine and accommodates crankshaft bearings and A-frame. For the small engine, a single casting of cast iron is used and for large 2 stroke engines, fabricated cast steel transverse sections with longitudinal girders are used.

Related Read:  Important Things To Check In Ship’s Engine Bedplate

A frame: The A-frame, as the name suggests, is similar to the shape of letter ‘A’ and is installed above the bedplate of the engine. It is built separately to carry the crosshead guide and on top, it supports the base of the entablature. The bottom surface of the A-frame is machined for making a mating surface to install on top of the bedplate.

Entablature: The entablature , also known as cylinder block, is made from cast iron and used to accommodate the cooling water and scavenge airspace. Depending upon the size of the engine, the casting can be either for individual or multicylinder (bolted together). The lower portion of the cylinder block is machined to form a mating surface and fastened with the A-frame using fitted bolts.

The other different ship engine parts which are fitted inside the engine are:

Piston, liner, cylinder, connecting rod, crankshaft, camshaft, fuel pump, exhaust valve, etc. and these important parts can be studied in details in our ebook –

Ship engine maintenance

The basic ship engine maintenance comprises of planned maintenance which includes overhauling of important moving and static parts of the combustion chamber.

Following are some of the most common maintenance done on the marine engine:

• Overhauling and measurement of Piston, rings and piston rod
• Overhauling and measurement of the cylinder liner
• Overhauling and measurement of the exhaust valve
• Overhauling and measurement of the stuffing box
• Overhauling and measurement connecting rod and crosshead bearings
• Overhauling and measurement of main bearings

Related Read:  Types of Main Bearings of Marine Engines and their Properties

7. Measurement of crankshaft deflection

8. Checks and measurement of fuel pump timing

9. Checks and overhauling of starting air system

The time between overhauling of different parts of the engine is provided by the manufacturer in the engine manual. The maintenance needs to be performed as per the time specified between two overhauling durations, irrespective of issues shown by the engine.

Apart from timely overhauling, the engine ratings and power needs to be checked using digital power indicator. The scavenge space inspection is also done to check the condition of the piston ring, which in turn defines the efficiency of the lubrication system of the cylinder liner.

Marine engines used on ships are some of the most sophisticated and complicated engineering works. Marine engineers are therefore provided special training for operating, maintaining and troubleshooting marine engines on board ships.

You may also like to read:

Things to Consider During Fuel Valve Overhauling 

Disclaimer:   The authors’ views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of Marine Insight. Data and charts, if used, in the article have been sourced from available information and have not been authenticated by any statutory authority. The author and Marine Insight do not claim it to be accurate nor accept any responsibility for the same. The views constitute only the opinions and do not constitute any guidelines or recommendation on any course of action to be followed by the reader.

The article or images cannot be reproduced, copied, shared or used in any form without the permission of the author and Marine Insight.

About Author

Raunek Kantharia is a marine engineer turned maritime writer and entrepreneur. After a brief stint at the sea, he founded Marine Insight in 2010. Apart from managing Marine Insight, he also writes for a number of maritime magazines and websites.

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This is How Cruise Ships Work

by Contractor | Nov 24, 2020 | resources , Travel Tips | 0 comments

Are you wondering how cruise ships work? Whether you’re planning a trip or just curious about a cruise ship’s technicality or even the logistics, it’s always intriguing to find out how massive ships like work. How does a cruise ship work?

First and foremost, a cruise ship’s heart is in the engine of the vessel. The engine’s design, paired with proper fueling, provides the power for the ship’s mobility and all the entertainment aboard. The ship’s engineering and the logistics of running a cruise company play a role in shaping how a cruise ship works overall

If you are an engineer curious about a ship’s mechanics, this is an article for you. Fortunately, if you’re just a curious traveler wondering how a cruise vessel will shape your next trip, this is also for you, so read on. There is so much to a cruise ship other than the cocktails and fun parks on top. This will be an eye-opening article for all audiences.

How Do Cruise Ships Work

To the ultimate question, “how a cruise ship works,” let’s dive into how it works mechanically. What are the technical and mechanical aspects of a cruise ship? What does an engine do? How does a massive ship provide light, food, entertainment in the middle of an ocean? Is the water safe to drink?

Then, after reviewing how the cruise ship’s mechanics work, the answer to how a cruise ship works logistically can be answered. How do companies make a profit from these vast ships? How do the ships prepare for new passengers?

Technical Aspects of Cruise Ships

The technical aspects are a vital part of a cruise ship, so it will be first visited. Not to state the obvious, but the ship’s heart is shaped by the crew and the engineers that have put many hours and dedication into making a cruise ship work.

This is article will reveal the true hidden layers of what makes it all work starting from ground zero, the heart.

Technical Aspects

If you want one thing in a cruise ship aside from the cocktails and a nice tan, it’s the vessel’s stability and durability. Whether you are traveling through an unexpected storm or cruising on a gentle wave, your cruise ship should be the most stable in all situations.

How are cruise ships stabilized? The general idea for balancing and maintaining buoyancy is distributing the weight throughout the ship correctly, and of course, displacing the right about of water as it moves. So, let’s first talk about one of the most massive machinery onboard, the engine. Where does it sit and how does it run the cruise ship?

Engine Rooms

Where are the engines located? You guessed it, most heavyweights, such as engines, are found as low as possible in the lower decks, ground zero. For most cruise ships, the engines are close to the keel. The structural keel is the most closes to the bottom of the vessel and the ship’s wide hull. It runs the length of the vessel down its centerline and in most ships, you won’t have to go far to find the engine rooms.

Just because it’s placed low in the ship doesn’t mean it doesn’t take a lot of space. For all the ship’s power, the engine rooms can take up several decks high and are generally divided into several compartments. It may not feel like an open massive space, but it is truly the heart of the ship and the design of the rooms and placement are critical.

Usually, the primary concern for most ships is have engines and machinery compartmentalized for safety and avoiding fire hazards. Compartmentalized and labeled rooms make maintenance simpler and enhances safety for unprecedented accidents.

New legislations also support the requirement for compartmentalization. Ships are required to have at least a duplicate of equipment and at least two separate spaces for engines. So, what about these engines? Why are they so important and why do ships need so many of them?

Power and Engines

Just to answer those questions, we’ll have to visit more fundamental questions such as: How do the engines power a giant cruise ship? How does it help the ship propel forward? Are there specific engines that power different parts of the cruise? Out of many questions regarding the engines, the answer starts with the main engines.

The main engines are the engines that produce the majority of the power for the cruise ship to move. Depending on the type of vessel, the main engine connects to different parts of the propelling power. From traditional steamboats, to diesel electric, the engine is the fundamental powerhouse for the entire ship on the sea.

The following table is a general overview of how engines on different types of vessels are connected to the ship’s requirements.

So How Do These Engines Make the Ship Move?

As shown in the table, depending on the vessel type, the engine will provide power to different aspects of the ship. More or less, everything is distributed to operating proportions, but the key mechanics differ from one to another.

Diesel may be something more familiar to what we saw in old movies with steamboats. Even in modern days, we use similar mechanisms, if not labeled the same. The main difference is the source of pressure, which can be the traditional steam, or a fuel ignition.

Whether it is steam (traditional) or fuel ignition, the pressure generated from either push the pistons up and down in the vessel. These pistons connect to crankshafts through gears, which turns the pistons.

The crankshaft connects to the propeller through a long propeller shaft and gears, which further determines its speed in traditional diesel-powered vessels by steam pressure. Generally, the faster the pistons move up and down from the pressure, the quicker the propeller shifts would move.

With modern designs that control the propeller speed, engineers placed the gears in between the propeller and the engines which further enhances efficiency for both engines and propellers.

Again, although the majority of the engine provides electricity to the propeller shaft, electricity must be provided to the rest of the ship for entertainment. Often, options such as a shaft generator offer power to outlets such as lighting the dining and general appliances onboard while in motion.

Diesel-Electric

Diesel-electric is another form of vessels that are found commonly with conventional diesel vessels. Unlike the conventional diesel, diesel-electric engines are connected directly to the generators that provide the electricity for the propellers and main generators.

This electricity also provides direct power for the ship’s lights, appliances, and much more.

Environmentally Friendly Power

On a side note, if the thought of diesel in the ocean disturbs you, there is some good news! Thankfully, more and more environmentally friendly options are appearing for cruise ships. For example, liquified Natural Gas (LNG) is an alternative method for powering ships that burns natural gas for power.

Using natural gas could reduce nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide emissions significantly! With green-oriented companies, more green cruises have been released in the past few years.

That being said, if you are looking to book a trip, be on the lookout for green cruising opportunities! Onboard, you can also find environmentally conscious crew members and less-waste policies.

Source: CruiseCritic , Windstar Cruises , Green Cruises

Fuel Consumption

So, how does fuel play a part in powering the engine and the cruise ship? Let’s go back and visit what an engine does. An engine generates electricity to the propellers by supplying power the propulsion motors. How do they get the electricity and what makes an engine work? Most likely fuel and ignition (besides the steamboat example from before).

How much Fuel?

In general, a large cruise ship can consume up to 250 tons of fuel a day, which is close to 80,000 gallons a day. For medium size cruise ships, consumption can still range up to 150 tons of fuel a day.

Onboard, a ship may carry up to 1 to 2 million gallons of fuel, depending on the vessel size. Most of the power, which can be close to 85%, goes to the propellers, while the rest goes to keeping the cruise lit and comfortable for the passengers and crew members.

While passengers dine and enjoy their cruise aboard, crew members are constantly maintaining the proper fuel levels and providing proper power for the ship. As for the captain of the ship, he also has several variables to keep in mind to control fuel consumption and safety.

Fuel consumption may vary for several reasons, just like when we are driving our cars (but with more variability). For example, depending on where the wind is hitting the ship, the fuel consumption can go 1 – 5% over the average consumption rate.

Here is a short list of variables that the captain is keeping track of:

• Speed of the cruise
• Sea conditions (vs. sailing direction)
• Weather (including the direction of the wind)
• Size of the ship
• Engine (Gas turbines, diesel-electric, diesel, or electric)

Source: Windstar Cruises , Cruise Mapper

Overall, the fuel, power, and engine, are all functions of making the magic happen. Starting from the design of the engine, to the crewmembers and captain maintaining the fuel and power consumption, a lot of action happens behind the scenes while passengers are onboard during vacation.

Floating and Buoyancy

Now that the ship is powered, how do we ensure that it floats? How do these massive machineries, ice-skating rinks, restaurants, and bars float on water while keeping thousands of passengers safely onboard?

While the cruise ship constantly pushes the water out of its way when moving forward, the water being pushed will try to come back to its place. This displaced water pushes back with a force on the vessel which lets the cruise ship stay afloat.

This is the general idea when engineers designed the hull of the ship. This ratio has to be calculated when designing a ship and has to be correct. If you get a chance to see the hull of most ships, they have a wide U-shape hull at the front to maintain the displacement.

In addition to basic buoyancy principles, an engineer must also consider the ship’s average density. This means that the ship’s general open spaces must be considered on top of the vessel’s average weight, so the vessel remains “less dense” than the ocean’s (usually salty) water. A great example is a rock sinking vs. a beach ball floating on water.

Source: Express

Water Onboard

So the power, fuel, engine, and buoyancy are the fundamentals of the ship. What about the details of the cruise ship such as the water in your shower? Is it salty? Is it fresh? Where and how does that come to your room without running out.

In general, most cruise ships have a steam-evaporation system. Water is pumped and desalinated before going to your room. During this process, your water is distilled and desalinated using a reverse-osmosis system and filtration system.

Distillation and desalination process uses a purification system to take all contents out of the water. This is generally not healthy to drink, so this water is mineralized and chlorinated for taste and safety.

Additionally, some ships have water brought onboard for laundry and other maintenance purposes. Generally speaking, the water onboard available for drinking are tested and checked for purification. If you are ever in doubt, check with a crew member to ensure the water is safe for consumption.

Is the Water Safe?

The answer to your ultimate question is, no, the water you are drinking is not toilet water. Regulated by the Maritime Organization laws, all “toilet water” must be treated and discharged into the ocean at a specific distance from the land. This water is never treated and recycled for passengers to use again.

On a side note, if you feel uncomfortable drinking this water, bottled water will most likely be available onboard for purchase. If you need special water for medical needs, you will most likely be able to bring a few bottles on board by notifying them ahead of time.

Now that we have reviewed how cruise ships work mechanically, let’s dive into the ship’s logistics. How do they work? Who’s working, how is it supplied, and how are they so cheap? Or perhaps, why are they so expensive? All of these questions come down to logistics.

General Logistics

Depending on your opinion and type of cruise you may have signed up for, you may think that your cruise is way under or over-budget. The cruise companies measure these decisions and prices to minimize cost and maximize returns (of course).

For example, cruise ships avoid fines by taking specific lines. They must often save fuel and hiring a knowledgeable captain who can make these decisions and keep passengers aboard safe is essential.

So, what are the different divisions of a cruise vacation? Are some better than others?

Mainstream, Premium, and Luxury

If we broke down cruises into 3 main categories, we could look at the mainstream, premium, and luxury lines of cruise types. You will often see categories within each of these types, but let’s break them down into the major categories for simplicity.

First, we will start with the mainstream cruise lines. These are cruises that are readily available, common, and well-known by the public with reasonable ticket costs.

Generally, these cruises’ primary business is through the onboard casinos, spas, shopping, and drinks. They suit the needs of most passengers. To make maximum profit, companies design these cruises by providing readily available entertainment on board. Most passengers are estimated to use 500$ onboard for their vacation experience.

Onboard, you will find general amenities, restaurants, bars, pubs, nightclubs, shopping, theaters, cinemas, swimming pools, gyms, karaokes, libraries, and even museums! These are great for big parties and are generally the biggest ships at sea.

Examples of Mainstream Cruise Lines that are known as “floating resorts”:

• Carnival Cruise Line
• Royal Caribbean International
• Norwegian Cruise line
• Lindblad Expeditions
• Amawaterways

Mainstream cruises are great for

• Group of friends

Source: NancyandShawnPower , Fodors , and Wind Rose Network

Premium lines are perfect for adults or those that are retiring. The brilliant catch is that many have policies of “no kids allowed,” making it an excellent selling point for adults who need some peace and quiet. These cruises make money upfront by offering more access to ports and offering the serene luxury.

Premium cruises generally have a refined style in comparison to mainstream cruise lines. Activities are more focused on lifestyles. For example, you may find computer classes or a language-learning class. Besides, these ships still offer resort-style pools, game nights, bingo, spas, gyms, and maybe even a jazz night.

The perks for a premium in comparison to the mainstream is the higher quality of cuisine. Usually offering specialty restaurants and quality chefs, the price may be higher, but the overall quality is higher. The rooms at premium cruise lines are also superior, often offering suites and rooms with balconies.

Examples of Premium Cruise Lines

• Princess Cruises
• Celebrity Cruises
• Holland America Line

The popular audience for Premium cruise lines:

• Older Adults
• Sometimes family-oriented

Source: Fodors

Luxury lines are pricier yet offer the best-selling point, fewer people onboard with a luxurious experience from beginning to end. The more expensive tickets provided to only a few hundred passengers make a profit for the company with the much higher ticket prices.

There are abundant space and a deluxe ship that will greet you as a valued guest from beginning to end for the high price. No doubt, one will fall for such an exquisite experience that starts from fine dining of caviar and foie gras to personal service available at one’s fingertips.

Course meals are offered from a full restaurant menu in your stateroom and served with limitless wine. Most interiors are luxurious and elegant, with rooms that are large and overlooking the sea.

Amenities range from gyms, spas, pools, and low-key entertainment. Generally targeting a niche group, most luxury cruise lines do not allow children.

Examples of luxury cruise lines:

• Windstar Cruises
• Paul Gauguin
• Silversea Cruises
• Crystal Cruises
• Oceania Cruises

Source: Cruise Critic

Many corporations own several of these different targets to make the most profit. Additionally, by corporations owning various cruise types, they can also hand down older ships throughout their other brands.

Logistics throughout the year

In addition to managing several types of cruises, there are numerous ways cruises have to operate to maintain their profits and not waste money through resting and selecting the wrong routes.

For example, cruise lines generally have high sales in November through April by Americans. The cold Americans usually take a warm vacation away from winter for a trip to the Caribbean.

What about other times of the year? Staying on seas without business is a considerable loss in revenue and usually unheard of. So, what do they do? They sell repositioning one-way tickets in April!

Generally, towards the end of April, you will start seeing two-week trips from the Caribbean to Europe. Typically, these trips can range from any state on the Eastern Coast of the United States to European countries.

Switching over/Cleaning

When there are one-way trips, there also needs to be exceptional coordination for a short turnaround between trips. When the cruise ships get to the destination, all hotels, theaters, dining, laundromat, and parks are cleaned and reset for the next people to come on board within half a day!

How do they do it?

During night-time, luggage and bags are ready ashore for passengers to check out. Meanwhile, all the trash is dumped, and the trash containments are cleaned, crew members switch, fuels are refilled, and food is refreshed with new inventory.

Remember the 1 to 2 million gallons of fuel to refill? This process, called bunkering, is a whole-team effort and is completed before the ship is ready to travel again.

A small boat, a “barge,” brings fuel to the 400 ports fueling for ships.

• Barge secures to the side of the cruise ship
• Connects a hose between the ship tanks
• Pumps fuel while watching guard

When passengers load off, then the cleaning crew comes to clean the rooms. While the ship is pampering, they complete paperwork from the first trip, fulfill any necessary maintenance, redecorate rooms, and start preparing and cooking food and lunch for the next set of passengers coming on board.

Soon, the ship is reloaded with happy passengers and starts to move again. They make their profits from when the Casinos start, and food is served.

Crew Members

This brings light to the less noticed crew members. The ones that make all the magic happen. Generally, a cruise will have 1 crew for 2 passengers. Most of the crew members are working very long hours for several months.

In general, these crew ships are in their rooms when not on duty and do not get in the passengers’ way. How do cruises afford these crew members and their extended hours of work? The trick is that cruises can register in any country to abide by their labor laws. This is how they keep costs low, but there is a catch to that.

Crews and Destination

So, there is a catch, but it impacts your travel too. Did you ever wonder why cruises took less than expected stops? Not necessarily detours or emergency stops, but maybe a cruise led you to Ensenada or the Tabuaeran. This is due to the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886.

Why do cruises take weird detours?

Generally, a cruise ship can register any Labor law, as stated above. This makes it easy for cruise ships to pick a non-American country since it is cheaper and easier to fulfill (for business purposes). Unfortunately, if they choose this option, they must also abide by the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886. This act states that “No foreign vessel shall transport passengers between the United States.”

This means that if the cruise ship is registered under another country, they can never directly stop at an American stop if their initial take-off was in the United States. This is why you see stopes in Ensenada, for example.

For example, before Norwegian registered as American, if their cruise trip was to Hawaii from the motherland, they had to stop at Tabuaeran, a small island nearby.

When Norwegian registered as American, this let them bypass the Passenger Vessel Services Act. Unfortunately, this led the crew members’ service fees to rise, which led to higher ticket prices. If you want to watch how the above logistics work, check out this video !

A Cruise Ship Overview

Starting from the engine, fuel, and engineering to the logistics of companies, crewmembers, and governing policies, a cruise ship works in a marvelous way to shape every passengers’ experience abroad.

Thousands of crewmembers across various cruise ships, engineers of several centuries, and many hours of dedicated personnel make a cruise vacation work. Next time you are enjoying a cocktail on deck, remember that there is so much more behind the meaning of your cruise. There are so many parts that worked to make it happen! Enjoy and bon voyage!

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How Big Is a Cruise Ship Engine?

Without a cruise ship engine, these vessels would be nothing more than a floating hotel. They would drift aimlessly at sea and would lack any form of propulsion. Looking at the sheer size of these vessels makes one wonder how large an engine needs to be to maneuver the ship successfully in water.

Older cruise ships may still use a diesel reciprocating engine to generate enough power to move them. Power is supplied to the ship through a transmission going to a propeller shaft. The transmission determines the revolution of the propellers.

Modern cruise ships use gas turbines or diesel-electric engines for their power source for propulsion. They also provide power for the ship’s systems as well. Many of the larger vessels depend on two sources of power: propulsion and electrical power.

In This Article…

How does a cruise ship’s engine work.

Diesel engines are the most traditional type of cruise ship engine. In this engine, diesel fuels its crankshaft and pistons. These attach to a propeller, which advances the ship.

Gas turbine engines create heat that transforms mechanical energy into electricity. To achieve this reaction, compressed air fires into a combustion chamber. Hot exhaust is forced over a turbine, which spins to mechanically drive the shaft. Power can then be used to spin generators.

It works the same way in diesel-electric engines. This type of engine provides enough electricity to move the ship’s propellers and power the cruise ship’s appliances, lights, air conditioning, etc. Most ships will contain several engines connected to their generator.

These engines are very efficient, independent of speed. However, a direct drive system is used as opposed to a turbine. Output shafts are used to generate electrical power and are connected to the generators.

Both engines require a great deal of fuel. Larger vessels can consume about 250 tons of fuel daily. This is the equivalent of 80,000 gallons of fuel each day. Medium-sized ships will require 150 tons per day and as size decreases, fuel consumption does as well.

Worth Reading: How Big is a Cruise Ship?

A general rule of thumb is that the larger the vessel is, the more power is required for movement. This comes from fuel and engines.

Passengers will never see the magnitude of a cruise ship’s engine. Cruise ships require the heaviest weight to be placed at the lowest possible point. Therefore, engines are found close to the bottom of the ship. Since engines power ships through water, they can be quite large for mega ships.

A modern cruise ship doesn’t contain just a single engine. Cruise ships like the Oasis-class (Royal Caribbean) contain six engines, while many others have only four. Engine rooms are very large and can span several decks. Space is needed not just for engines, but for fuel tanks, generators, engine workshops, and the control room.

The number of engines range from five to six, and the power rating for each one is between 9-15 megawatts.

Since they are so large, they are placed in a separate compartment found in the cruise ship’s machinery space. This is known as the DG room. Modern passenger ships contain two DG rooms, which are forward and aft. They are separated by watertight bulkheads.

Each DG room contains its own independent fuel, air, lubrication, and cooling water supply systems. This is for the safety of the ship and for redundancy. It’s insurance for any emergencies like flooding and fire that can occur.

The largest cruise ship, Wonder of the Seas , utilizes six marine-diesel sets, with each composed of three 16-cylinder Wartsila engines.

What Engines Are Used in Larger Ships?

Modern, larger cruise ships use two or three stroke, low speed, crosshead, or medium speed engines. Engines operating at higher speeds tend to be found on smaller vessels. Determining the type of engine that is installed on a new cruise ship involves examining the engine’s size.

When it comes to cruise ships, the typical engine is a two 16-cylinder Wartsila 16V 46D which is a common rail engine. They also use three 12-cylinder Wartsila 12V 46D engines to power the ship. Each one of these produces about 19,480 kw of water.

Where Are Engines Located?

In newer cruise ships, engines are found on the lower decks toward the aft. They are not completely to the back of the boat but are found in the mid-aft.

Independent of a cruise ship’s size, engines are extremely loud. Engineers compensate for the noise by incorporating sound reduction technology. They also keep the engine room well-insulated.

Insulation serves a dual purpose. It keeps out noise and reduces the heat generated by fully operating engines. It prevents this heat from escaping to adjacent decks. If it were to escape, guests would be extremely uncomfortable. The design is meant to contain this. 

To get an idea of how loud an engine is, it can have a range that exceeds 173 decibels. It is so loud that it is in the range where damage to hearing can quickly occur. However, thanks to proper insulation methods, they don’t appear to be that loud. 

How Much Power Is Needed for a Cruise Ship?

These massive vessels can consume power up to about 50,000 horsepower. One horsepower on these ships equals 746 watts. Engines are designed to move large propellers or produce enough diverted electricity to drive the propellers.

While cruise ships can move upwards of 34.5 miles per hour (30 knots), most will only travel at 23 miles per hour (20 knots). There are various reasons for speed variations which are outlined in detail in this article . 

With So Many Engines, Is It Possible to Experience Engine Failure?

Due to high specifications and standards, it is rare for a cruise ship to experience engine failure. The International Maritime Organization has a “Safe Return to Port” initiative .

This covers every ship constructed after 2010. It requires full redundancies, which include two engine rooms. If the main engine should ever fail, power to electrical services should still run.

Engine failure can occur, though, in the ship’s main engines, which are responsible for moving the ship. Improper maintenance, mechanical issues, and human error can all be factors in causing engine failure.

What Happens if This Occurs?

If it does happen, the captain consults the chief engineer to diagnose the cause of the malfunction. They will assess the severity and determine whether it is fixable. Modern cruise ships don’t rely on a simple diesel engine.

There are up to six engines in operation. It will be up to the captain and the chief engineer to determine if the vessel can continue if one of their engines isn’t working properly. If the captain feels the cruise ship will not be able to function, they will consider other options. This may involve sending signals for assistance while at sea.

If the waters are calm, cruise ships are safely towed to a nearby shore. In rougher seas , other options may need to be considered for the safety of those on board.

Abandoning the ship is only done as a last resort because moving guests from one ship to another over open sea can be dangerous. This is especially true if it is done in bad weather. This is the same if passengers are instructed to go into lifeboats.

It is up to the captain to determine the best option. Generally, the safest place to be is your current location at sea. The ship is seen as the lifeboat. The cruise industry guidelines comment that the safest method to returning large numbers of guests to a port is by using the ship itself.

Are Passengers Safe if There Is Engine Failure?

Most of the time, passengers are fully safe. The No. 1 priority of all cruise lines is to keep all their guests completely safe. If the unexpected happens, know that the cruise ship has backup plans. A well-trained crew knows how to properly handle the situation so you are in safe hands.

Generally, engine failure only generates a brief interruption before it’s fixed. In other instances, it may just slow the speed of the vessel. Cruise lines will never jeopardize the safety of guests nor put them at risk if the cruise ship is unsuitable for sailing.

In the event of an emergency, guests can be proactive by paying attention to the mandatory safety exercise.

This is where crews demonstrate how to safely use life jackets and outline a designated meeting point in the event of an emergency. Be sure you know where your life jacket is in your cabin in the event you should ever require one.

Generally, cruise ship engines run a long time before experiencing any difficulties. Regular maintenance by the chief engineer is conducted to make sure that they are running in top condition and to prevent any mishaps while at sea.

When we examine the sheer size of mega-ships, the fact that engines and engine rooms are built so large is understandable.

It takes numerous engines to move something that is so massive in size and weight. Combine that with the horsepower required to make it move, and you also appreciate the cruise ship’s knots.

Going aboard a cruise ship is a leisurely experience. They do not travel fast like motorboats, for example. These ships contain massive amounts of steel and other components, which contribute to its overall weight. It requires anywhere between five-to-six engines for it to function.

Read Also: How Long Does It Take to Build a Cruise Ship?

Cruise ship engines are always kept in top functioning order. This is to ensure the safety of the guests. If one goes down, this is not a major concern as there are four to five others that can compensate. The ship may move slower, but passengers will safely return to port.

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Four-Stroke Marine Engines

• First Online: 01 July 2020

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• Ievgen Bilousov 5 ,
• Mykola Bulgakov 6 &
• Volodymyr Savchuk 7  

Part of the book series: Springer Series on Naval Architecture, Marine Engineering, Shipbuilding and Shipping ((NAMESS,volume 8))

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The internal combustion engines operating in the four-stroke cycle are most widely used on all types vessels with different purpose. Mostly, the vessels use medium and high-speed engines of this type, however, a number of Asian manufacturers produce low-speed four-stroke engines which are capable to operate with direct power transmission to the propeller.

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Bilousov, I., Bulgakov, M., Savchuk, V. (2020). Four-Stroke Marine Engines. In: Modern Marine Internal Combustion Engines. Springer Series on Naval Architecture, Marine Engineering, Shipbuilding and Shipping, vol 8. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49749-1_1

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What Engine Do Cruise Ships Use

Published: December 8, 2023

Modified: December 28, 2023

by Fania Thibault

• Hotel Reviews
• Sustainability

Introduction

Cruise ships are marvels of modern engineering, offering unforgettable experiences on the high seas. As these magnificent vessels sail across oceans, powering their immense size and providing luxurious amenities to passengers requires robust and efficient engines. The engines used in cruise ships are not only responsible for propelling the ship but also for generating electricity, providing heating and cooling systems, and supporting various onboard facilities.

The choice of engines for cruise ships is a critical decision that takes into consideration factors such as power requirements, fuel efficiency, environmental impact, reliability, and safety. Over the years, there have been significant advancements in cruise ship engine technology, leading to the emergence of more sustainable and innovative options.

In this article, we will explore the importance of engines for cruise ships and the different types of engines used in these vessels. We will also delve into the factors considered when selecting an engine for a cruise ship and discuss the latest technological developments in cruise ship engines.

So, hop aboard as we embark on a journey to uncover the fascinating world of cruise ship engines and their role in ensuring the smooth and enjoyable sailing experience for passengers.

Importance of Engines for Cruise Ships

The engines in cruise ships are the lifeblood of these floating resorts, playing a crucial role in their operation and overall experience. Here are some key reasons why engines are of utmost importance for cruise ships:

• Propulsion: The primary function of cruise ship engines is to provide propulsion, allowing the ship to move through the water. The engines generate the necessary power to drive the ship forward at varying speeds, ensuring smooth and steady navigation.
• Power Generation: Cruise ships are like miniature cities, requiring a constant supply of electricity to cater to the needs of passengers and crew. Engines in cruise ships are equipped with generators that produce electricity to power everything from lighting and air conditioning to entertainment systems and onboard facilities.
• Heating and Cooling Systems: The engines also facilitate the operation of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems on board. This ensures that passengers are kept comfortable and the ship’s interior maintains an ideal temperature across various climates and seasons.
• Supporting Onboard Facilities: Cruise ships are known for their extensive range of amenities, including restaurants, bars, spas, theaters, casinos, and more. The engines provide the necessary power and support systems to run these facilities smoothly, offering passengers a seamless and enjoyable experience.

Without efficient and reliable engines, cruise ships would be unable to function effectively. The engines not only determine the speed and maneuverability of the ship but also ensure the seamless operation of all onboard systems. From providing propulsion to generating electricity and supporting various amenities, cruise ship engines are vital to the overall functioning and comfort of these floating wonders of the sea.

Types of Engines Used in Cruise Ships

Cruise ships rely on different types of engines to meet their power requirements and ensure smooth operation. Let’s explore the three main types of engines commonly used in cruise ships:

Diesel Engines:

Diesel engines are the most commonly used type of engines in cruise ships. These engines work by compressing air in the cylinders and injecting fuel, usually diesel, into the compressed air, leading to combustion. The combustion process generates the power needed to propel the ship and generate electricity for onboard systems. Diesel engines are known for their efficiency and reliability, making them a popular choice for cruise ships.

Gas Turbine Engines:

Gas turbine engines, also known as jet engines, are another type of engine used in cruise ships. These engines operate by combusting fuel, such as natural gas or marine diesel oil in a combustion chamber. The high-temperature, high-pressure gases produced by combustion flow through a turbine, which then powers the ship’s propellers. Gas turbine engines offer a high power-to-weight ratio, making them suitable for high-speed cruise ships.

Combined Gas and Steam Turbine Engines (COGAS):

Combined gas and steam turbine engines, commonly known as COGAS systems, are a hybrid combination of gas turbine and steam turbine engines. In this configuration, the gas turbine exhaust is used to heat water and produce steam, which is then used to drive a steam turbine. The combined power output of the gas turbine and steam turbine is used to propel the ship and generate electricity. COGAS systems offer high efficiency and flexibility in power generation, making them suitable for larger cruise ships.

The choice of engine depends on factors such as power requirements, fuel efficiency, operational costs, and environmental impact. Cruise ship operators carefully consider these factors to select the most suitable engine type for their specific needs, ensuring optimal performance and a memorable experience for passengers.

Diesel Engines

Diesel engines are the most commonly used type of engines in cruise ships due to their efficiency and reliability. These engines operate on the principle of internal combustion, where fuel is injected into compressed air, leading to combustion and the generation of power.

Diesel engines offer several advantages that make them an ideal choice for cruise ships:

• Efficiency: Diesel engines are known for their high thermal efficiency, meaning they can convert a larger portion of the fuel’s energy into useful power. This results in improved fuel economy, which is beneficial for long-distance voyages.
• Reliability: Diesel engines are renowned for their robustness and durability. They can operate for extended periods without requiring significant maintenance, ensuring smooth and uninterrupted operation throughout the cruise.
• Flexibility: Diesel engines can run on various types of fuels, including low-sulfur diesel, marine gas oil, and blended fuels. This flexibility allows cruise ships to adapt to different fuel availability and environmental regulations.
• Low Emissions: While diesel engines produce emissions, modern designs incorporate advanced technologies, such as exhaust gas scrubbers and selective catalytic reduction systems, to minimize pollutants. This helps reduce the environmental impact of cruise ships.

In recent years, there has been a growing focus on improving the environmental performance of diesel engines used in cruise ships. This has led to the development of technologies like LNG (liquefied natural gas) fuelled engines and hybrid electric systems, which further enhance the efficiency and sustainability of these engines.

Overall, diesel engines continue to be the preferred choice for many cruise ships due to their reliability, fuel efficiency, and ability to meet stringent environmental regulations. Their continuous development and improvement ensure that cruise ships can provide a memorable experience for passengers while minimizing their impact on the environment.

Gas Turbine Engines

Gas turbine engines, also known as jet engines, are another type of engine used in cruise ships. These engines operate on the principle of burning fuel to produce high-pressure gases, which then flow through a turbine to generate power.

Here are some key characteristics and benefits of gas turbine engines:

• High Power-to-Weight Ratio: Gas turbine engines offer a high power output in relation to their weight, making them well-suited for high-speed cruise ships. They provide the necessary thrust and propulsion to propel the ship through the water at high speeds.
• Quick Start-Up and Response: Gas turbine engines can start up quickly and respond rapidly to changes in power requirements. This allows for efficient maneuverability and enhances the ship’s ability to adapt to various conditions.
• Fuel Flexibility: Gas turbine engines can operate on a wide range of fuels, including natural gas, marine diesel oil, and biofuels. This flexibility provides cruise ships with options to utilize different fuel sources based on availability and environmental considerations.
• Low Emissions: Gas turbine engines typically produce lower emissions compared to other engine types. The combustion process in gas turbine engines is efficient, resulting in reduced levels of pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides and particulate matter.

Gas turbine engines are often used in combination with other propulsion systems, such as diesel engines or electric motors, to achieve optimum efficiency and performance. This allows cruise ships to operate using a combination of power sources, adapting to different operational requirements and optimizing fuel consumption.

While gas turbine engines offer several advantages, they also have some considerations to take into account, such as higher fuel consumption at lower speeds and the need for regular maintenance. However, ongoing advancements in gas turbine technology continue to improve their efficiency, reliability, and environmental performance.

Overall, gas turbine engines provide an efficient and powerful option for cruise ships, particularly those focusing on high-speed travel. Their ability to quickly respond to power demands and lower emissions make them a valuable choice for enhancing the overall cruising experience.

Combined Gas and Steam Turbine Engines (COGAS)

Combined Gas and Steam Turbine Engines, commonly known as COGAS systems, are a hybrid combination of gas turbine and steam turbine engines. These systems are used in larger cruise ships to provide efficient power generation and propulsion.

Here are some key features and advantages of COGAS systems:

• High Efficiency: COGAS systems offer high levels of efficiency in power generation. The gas turbine exhaust, which is typically waste heat, is utilized to produce steam, which is then used to drive a steam turbine. By extracting additional power from the heat, COGAS systems maximize energy utilization and minimize fuel consumption.
• Flexible Power Output: COGAS systems provide flexible power output options, allowing cruise ships to adjust their energy requirements based on different operational conditions. The combination of the gas turbine and steam turbine provides a versatile power generation solution that can be tailored to meet specific needs.
• Improved Fuel Economy: The integration of gas and steam turbines in COGAS systems leads to improved fuel economy. By utilizing waste heat to produce steam, these systems enhance overall fuel efficiency and reduce operational costs for cruise ships.
• Lower Emissions: COGAS systems contribute to lower emissions compared to conventional engine setups. The combined cycle operation allows for cleaner combustion and more effective pollutant control, resulting in reduced environmental impact.

COGAS systems are commonly used in larger cruise ships due to their enhanced efficiency and power output capabilities. These systems provide the necessary propulsion and electricity generation, supporting the operation of various onboard facilities and amenities.

While COGAS systems offer numerous advantages, they do require regular maintenance and expertise to ensure optimal performance. The integration of gas and steam turbines requires careful monitoring and control to maintain the balance between power generation and fuel efficiency.

Overall, COGAS systems represent an advanced and environmentally friendly solution for powering and propelling larger cruise ships. Their high efficiency, flexible power output, and lower emissions make them a notable choice for cruise lines seeking to optimize energy usage and reduce their environmental footprint.

Factors Considered in Engine Selection for Cruise Ships

The selection of engines for cruise ships involves careful consideration of various factors to ensure optimal performance, efficiency, and environmental impact. Here are some key factors that cruise ship operators take into account when choosing an engine:

• Power Requirements: The power requirements of the cruise ship dictate the type and size of engine needed. Factors such as the ship’s size, weight, and intended speed play a significant role in determining the power output necessary for propulsion and onboard systems.
• Fuel Efficiency: Fuel efficiency is a critical factor in minimizing operational costs and reducing environmental impact. Cruise ship operators aim to select engines that offer high fuel efficiency, allowing for extended cruising ranges and decreased fuel consumption.
• Environmental Impact: As environmental concerns grow, cruise ships are under increasing pressure to address their impact. Engine selection takes into consideration emissions regulations and the availability of cleaner fuels or technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides.
• Reliability and Safety: Cruise ships operate under demanding conditions and must ensure the safety and comfort of passengers and crew. Engine reliability, durability, and the ability to withstand maritime challenges are crucial considerations in engine selection.

Cruise ship operators often collaborate with engine manufacturers and designers to customize engines based on their specific needs and performance criteria. This ensures that the selected engines meet the unique operational requirements of the cruise ship while adhering to safety and environmental standards.

Engine selection for cruise ships is a complex process that involves evaluating and balancing various factors. The aim is to choose engines that provide the necessary power, fuel efficiency, reliability, and environmental sustainability to enhance the overall cruising experience while minimizing ecological impact.

Power Requirements

The power requirements of a cruise ship are a primary consideration when selecting an engine. Various factors influence these power requirements, including the ship’s size, weight, intended speed, and onboard facilities. Cruise ships require significant power to propel the vessel and operate numerous systems and amenities.

The power requirements for propulsion involve calculating the amount of power needed to move the ship through the water at the desired speed. This calculation considers factors such as the ship’s displacement, water resistance, and desired cruising speed. The engine must be able to generate sufficient thrust to propel the ship effectively and maintain the desired speeds during the voyage.

In addition to propulsion, the power requirements for onboard facilities and amenities must also be taken into account. Cruise ships have a wide range of facilities, including restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, spas, and more. These facilities require electricity and other energy sources to operate smoothly. The engine must have the capacity to generate sufficient electricity to meet these demands.

The power requirements of a cruise ship can vary greatly, depending on the ship’s size and capacity. Larger cruise ships may have multiple engines or engine systems to meet the power demands. The engine selection must be able to meet these power requirements efficiently and reliably.

Engine manufacturers work closely with cruise ship operators to determine the power requirements and customize engine designs accordingly. The goal is to ensure that the engines can provide the necessary power for propulsion and onboard systems, while optimizing fuel efficiency and maintaining operational reliability.

By carefully considering the power requirements, cruise ship operators can select engines that are tailored to meet their unique needs, providing the necessary power to ensure a smooth and enjoyable sailing experience for passengers while maximizing operational efficiency.

Fuel Efficiency

Fuel efficiency is a crucial factor in engine selection for cruise ships. Given the significant fuel consumption associated with operating these large vessels, cruise ship operators prioritize engines that offer high levels of fuel efficiency. Optimal fuel efficiency not only decreases operational costs but also reduces the environmental impact of cruise ship operations.

Engines with high fuel efficiency can significantly improve the cruising range of a ship, enabling longer journeys without the need for frequent refueling. This is especially important for cruise itineraries that cover long distances or involve remote destinations where refueling options may be limited.

The fuel efficiency of an engine is determined by various factors, including design, combustion efficiency, and propulsion system optimization. Advanced technologies such as turbochargers, variable valve timing, and electronic engine management systems contribute to improved fuel efficiency.

Another consideration in fuel efficiency is the choice of fuel. Cruise ships traditionally used heavy fuel oil, but there is a growing shift towards cleaner fuels. Many cruise lines now invest in engines that can run on low sulfur marine gas oil or even liquefied natural gas (LNG). LNG-powered engines, in particular, have gained popularity due to their lower emissions and improved fuel efficiency.

Efforts to improve fuel efficiency also extend to operational practices. Cruise ship operators implement measures like optimized routing, reducing speeds, and implementing energy-saving technologies onboard to maximize fuel efficiency. These practices, combined with fuel-efficient engines, can have a significant impact on fuel consumption and emissions.

Cruise ship operators also monitor and analyze fuel consumption data to identify areas for further improvement. This data-driven approach allows them to implement fuel-saving strategies and continuously optimize engine performance.

By prioritizing fuel efficiency in engine selection, cruise ship operators can achieve significant cost savings and reduce the environmental footprint of their operations. Investing in fuel-efficient engines and adopting sustainable operational practices aligns with the industry’s commitment to environmental stewardship and ensures a more sustainable future for the cruise ship industry.

Environmental Impact

The environmental impact of cruise ships is a significant concern, and engine selection plays a crucial role in minimizing this impact. Cruise ship operators aim to select engines that reduce emissions and mitigate the environmental consequences of their operations.

Emissions from cruise ship engines contribute to air pollution and climate change. Key pollutants include sulfur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and particulate matter. To address these concerns, engine manufacturers have developed advanced technologies to reduce emissions, such as selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems, exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers), and improved combustion techniques.

Modern cruise ship engines are designed to meet increasingly stringent emissions regulations, such as the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) MARPOL Annex VI standards. These regulations outline limits for the emission of sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter from ships operating in designated emission control areas.

One significant development in engine technology to reduce environmental impact is the increased adoption of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a fuel source for cruise ship engines. LNG-powered engines significantly reduce sulfur oxide emissions and can offer substantial reductions in nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions. Additionally, LNG is a cleaner-burning fuel compared to traditional marine fuels.

Cruise ship operators are also exploring other sustainable technologies, such as hybrid electric systems. These systems combine traditional engines with electric propulsion, allowing ships to operate on cleaner, electric power during certain parts of the journey. This results in reduced emissions and improved fuel efficiency.

Environmental impact considerations go beyond emissions reduction. Cruise ship engines need to comply with regulations related to ballast water management, waste management, and noise pollution. Engine selection takes into account technologies and systems that minimize these impacts, promoting sustainable practices throughout the ship’s lifecycle.

Overall, minimizing the environmental impact of cruise ships through engine selection is a top priority for the industry. By investing in environmentally-friendly technologies and adhering to stringent regulations, cruise ship operators are actively working to reduce emissions and create a more sustainable future for the industry and the environment.

Reliability and Safety

Reliability and safety are paramount considerations in engine selection for cruise ships. The engines must be able to operate consistently and safely throughout the voyage to provide a smooth and worry-free experience for passengers and crew.

Engine reliability is crucial to maintaining continuous operation without unexpected downtime or performance issues. Cruise ship operators rely on engines that have a proven track record of reliability and longevity. Robust design, quality manufacturing, and adherence to rigorous maintenance schedules are critical factors in ensuring engine reliability.

Safety is a top priority in the cruise ship industry. The engines must comply with stringent safety standards to protect passengers, crew, and the ship itself. Safety features such as automatic shut-off systems, fire suppression systems, and sophisticated monitoring and control systems are integrated into modern cruise ship engines.

In the event of emergencies or unforeseen mechanical issues, redundancy is essential. Cruise ships typically include multiple engines or engine systems to provide backup and redundancy in case of engine failure. This redundancy ensures that the ship can continue to operate safely and reach its destination even in the face of engine issues.

Cruise ship engines are subject to stringent certification processes and must adhere to international standards such as those set by classification societies like DNV, Lloyd’s Register, or the American Bureau of Shipping. These certifications ensure that the engines meet essential safety requirements and undergo regular inspections and audits.

Regular maintenance and inspections play a critical role in maintaining engine reliability and safety. Cruise ship operators have stringent maintenance schedules and comprehensive maintenance protocols to detect and address potential issues before they become significant problems. This proactive approach to maintenance ensures that the engines remain in optimal operating condition, reducing the risk of unexpected breakdowns or accidents.

By prioritizing engine reliability and safety, cruise ship operators can provide passengers with peace of mind and a secure voyage. Engine manufacturers continually innovate and improve designs to enhance reliability and integrate the latest safety features, aligning with the industry’s commitment to providing a safe and enjoyable cruising experience.

New Technological Developments in Cruise Ship Engines

The cruise ship industry is continuously evolving, driven by advancements in technology and the desire to improve efficiency and sustainability. Engine manufacturers are constantly innovating to meet the changing needs of the industry. Here are two notable technological developments in cruise ship engines:

LNG-Powered Engines:

The adoption of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a fuel source for cruise ship engines represents a significant technological advancement. LNG-powered engines offer several benefits, including lower emissions, improved fuel efficiency, and reduced environmental impact. LNG produces significantly less sulfur oxide (SOx), nitrogen oxide (NOx), and particulate matter compared to conventional fuels.

LNG-powered engines also contribute to noise reduction, creating a more enjoyable and environmentally friendly cruising experience. Several cruise lines have already made significant investments in LNG-powered ships, leading the way in sustainable and cleaner ship operations.

Hybrid Electric Systems:

Hybrid electric systems combine traditional engines with electric propulsion technology, creating a more environmentally friendly and fuel-efficient option. These systems use batteries or energy storage systems to store energy and assist the combustion engine during peak power demands or low-speed operations.

Hybrid electric systems offer several advantages, including reduced emissions, improved fuel efficiency, and enhanced maneuverability. By utilizing electric power, cruise ships can operate with lower levels of noise and vibration, enhancing passenger comfort. Additionally, the ability to switch to electric power during port stays reduces emissions and allows for a cleaner and quieter environment.

These technological developments in cruise ship engines demonstrate the industry’s commitment to sustainable practices and reducing environmental impact. The adoption of LNG-powered engines and hybrid electric systems represents a significant step towards greener and more efficient cruise ship operations.

As technology continues to advance, engine manufacturers are exploring new ways to enhance efficiency, reduce emissions, and improve performance. From advancements in propulsion systems to the development of alternative fuels, there is a continuous effort to make cruise ship engines more environmentally friendly and sustainable.

The integration of these new technologies in cruise ship engines not only benefits the environment but also enhances the overall cruising experience for passengers. With cleaner engines and reduced emissions, cruise ships can navigate through pristine environments while offering guests an unforgettable journey on the high seas.

LNG-Powered Engines

LNG (liquefied natural gas) is emerging as a promising alternative fuel for cruise ship engines, offering significant environmental and operational advantages. LNG-powered engines utilize natural gas in its liquefied state as the primary fuel source, resulting in reduced emissions and improved fuel efficiency.

LNG-powered engines offer several benefits for cruise ships:

• Lower Emissions: LNG is a much cleaner-burning fuel compared to conventional marine fuels. LNG-powered engines produce significantly lower sulfur oxide (SOx), nitrogen oxide (NOx), and particulate matter emissions. The use of LNG can greatly contribute to reducing the environmental impact of cruise ship operations, particularly in emission control areas and sensitive coastal regions.
• Improved Fuel Efficiency: LNG-powered engines are more fuel-efficient than traditional marine engines. The combustion of LNG produces more energy per unit of fuel compared to other fossil fuels, resulting in improved overall engine efficiency. This translates into lower fuel consumption and reduced operating costs for cruise ship operators.
• No Black Carbon Emissions: LNG does not produce black carbon emissions, which are fine particles that can contribute to climate change and have adverse health effects. The absence of black carbon emissions further enhances the environmental benefits of LNG-powered engines.
• Quieter Operation: LNG-powered engines operate at lower noise levels, reducing noise pollution both onboard the ship and in the surrounding marine environment. This results in a more pleasant and enjoyable experience for passengers and reduces the impact on marine life.

While the adoption of LNG-powered engines requires significant infrastructure investments, including the availability of LNG bunkering facilities, several cruise lines have already made substantial commitments to utilizing LNG as a fuel source. These cruise ships not only comply with emissions regulations but also demonstrate a proactive approach to reducing their carbon footprint.

Furthermore, advancements in engine technology continue to improve the performance and reliability of LNG-powered engines. Engine manufacturers are developing innovative solutions to optimize combustion efficiency, enhance system integration, and improve overall engine control for LNG-powered vessels.

LNG-powered engines demonstrate a significant step towards greener and more sustainable cruise ship operations. The use of LNG as a fuel source aligns with the cruise industry’s commitment to environmental stewardship, ensuring a cleaner and more sustainable future for both operators and passengers alike.

Hybrid Electric Systems

Hybrid electric systems are a cutting-edge technological development in cruise ship engines, combining traditional engines with electric propulsion to create a more efficient and environmentally friendly power solution. These systems utilize batteries or energy storage systems alongside combustion engines to optimize fuel consumption and reduce emissions.

Here are some key aspects and advantages of hybrid electric systems for cruise ships:

• Reduced Emissions: By integrating electric propulsion into cruise ship engines, hybrid systems significantly reduce emissions compared to traditional engines. The ability to switch to electric power during low-speed or port operations eliminates engine exhaust emissions entirely, contributing to cleaner air and reduced environmental impact.
• Improved Fuel Efficiency: Hybrid electric systems optimize fuel efficiency by intelligently managing power demand. Electric propulsion can be used in conjunction with or as a sole power source for low-speed operations, reducing the need for continuous fuel consumption from combustion engines. This leads to lower fuel consumption, cost savings, and decreased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
• Enhanced Maneuverability: Hybrid systems offer improved maneuverability, making it easier for cruise ships to navigate in tight spaces, such as busy ports or confined waterways. Electric propulsion provides instant torque and responsiveness, enabling precise control and smooth maneuvering.
• Noise and Vibration Reduction: Electric propulsion significantly reduces noise and vibration levels onboard the ship, creating a more enjoyable and comfortable experience for passengers. This quieter operation also reduces noise pollution in surrounding marine environments, minimizing the impact on marine life.

Hybrid electric systems work by utilizing batteries or energy storage systems to store electricity generated by the combustion engine or through shore power connection. This stored energy can then be used when operating at low speeds or during port stays, reducing the need for the combustion engine and resulting in quieter and cleaner operations.

Cruise lines that have adopted hybrid electric systems have witnessed notable reductions in emissions and improved fuel efficiency, reinforcing their commitment to sustainable operations.

As technology continues to advance, further improvements are being made in the efficiency and energy storage capabilities of hybrid electric systems. This, coupled with ongoing advancements in battery technology, will pave the way for even more efficient and environmentally friendly cruise ship operations in the future.

Hybrid electric systems represent a significant step forward in the pursuit of sustainability in the cruise industry. By harnessing the advantages of electric propulsion alongside traditional engines, cruise ships can achieve a harmonious balance between performance, efficiency, and environmental responsibility.

The selection of engines for cruise ships is a critical decision that influences the performance, efficiency, sustainability, and overall cruising experience. Cruise ship operators consider various factors, including power requirements, fuel efficiency, environmental impact, reliability, and safety.

Diesel engines are commonly used in cruise ships due to their efficiency and reliability. They provide the necessary power for propulsion and onboard systems while ensuring fuel economy and compliance with environmental regulations. Gas turbine engines offer high power output and quick response, making them suitable for high-speed cruise ships. Combined Gas and Steam Turbine Engines (COGAS) provide efficient power generation and improved fuel economy by utilizing waste heat to produce steam.

Fuel efficiency and environmental impact are of paramount importance in engine selection. The adoption of LNG-powered engines and hybrid electric systems significantly reduces emissions, lowers fuel consumption, and minimizes environmental impact. LNG-powered engines utilize clean-burning liquefied natural gas to reduce emissions of sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter. Hybrid electric systems optimize fuel efficiency by integrating electric propulsion during low-speed operations, reducing emissions and noise pollution.

Reliability and safety play crucial roles in engine selection, ensuring continuous operation, passenger comfort, and crew safety. Cruise ship engines undergo rigorous certifications and adhere to international safety standards. Regular maintenance and advanced monitoring systems are in place to maintain engine reliability and promptly address any issues that may arise.

The cruise ship industry is continuously evolving, with new technological developments transforming engine technology. Advancements in LNG-powered engines and hybrid electric systems provide more sustainable and efficient options, aligning with the industry’s commitment to environmental stewardship.

Ultimately, the selection of engines for cruise ships is a complex process that requires balancing power requirements, fuel efficiency, environmental impact, reliability, and safety. By choosing engines that meet these criteria, cruise ship operators can provide an unforgettable cruising experience while minimizing the industry’s ecological footprint.

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Wolf Street

The engines of the largest container ships in the world, and challenges their manufacturers face, by mc01 •  may 28, 2018  •  101 comments, the crankshafts may set the limits., by mc01, a frequent commenter on wolf street :.

Three engine manufacturers have come to dominate the market for the giant low-speed two-stroke diesel engines used in the largest container ships, bulk carriers, and tankers: MAN SE of Germany, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan, and Wärtsilä of Finland.

Stricter environmental legislation around the world is only part of the increasingly more challenging environment these three firms – and the shipyards and contractors they work with – have to deal with.

The shipping industry does not merely demand cleaner and more fuel-efficient engines, but also engines that will last the design life of the ship (usually 25 years) with only scheduled maintenance and minimal repairs. Several shipowners (led by CMA CGM) are coming to like the single engine/single propeller configuration for its efficiency and reduced running costs – as long as it doesn’t impact cruising speed too much.

Technical solutions range from the use of plates of corrosion-resistant materials such as Inconel (a family of nickel-based super-alloys originally developed for jet engines) welded to the piston crown to using crankcase oil to cool not just the pistons themselves but the rod as well to reduce the likelihood of heat-induced failures.

To give an example of what the shipping industry demands nowadays, Maersk’s Triple-E container ships – the largest container ships in the world with a capacity of over 18,000 twenty-foot-container equivalent units (TEU) – are powered by two MAN two-stroke diesels, each driving its own propeller. Each engine has eight cylinders with an 800 mm bore. The engines are designed to deliver their maximum efficiency at 73 rpm. Their combined power of 59,000 kW allows the monster-ship to cruise at 16 knots.

These MAN engines are not the most efficient offering from the German firm, and there are several single engines that put out a lot more power. For example, the much celebrated 14 cylinder version of the Wärtsilä RTA96C is rated for over 80,000kW.

But MAN’s twin-engine configuration allows to reduce engine room size relative to the size of the ship, thus giving more room for cargo. It allows to install one 3000 kW electric generator per shaft, thus almost doubling power from thermal-fired generators and the waste heat recovery (WHR) system.

This increased electricity generation allows each Triple-E ship to carry up to 1,800 climate-controlled containers, a huge boon when carrying heat-sensitive cargo (such as some electronic components) through the hot Indian Ocean.

The Triple-E 25-year design lifespan may be cut short if there are technical breakthroughs that make the ships uneconomical to run, repair, or retrofit. So, just in case, according to both Maersk and Daewoo, the Triple-E were designed to be “easy to break up” when their time comes, but until that day comes we won’t know how much truth there is in this statement.

All of this comes at a price. Each of the three series of 10 Triple E container ships cost Maersk $1.9 billion, bringing the total for all 30 ships to US $5.7 billion in 2016 dollars. This is the largest contract ever for commercial vessels of any kind.

The ferocious competition between Asian shipyards, and especially the Big Three of Korea (Daewoo, Hyundai, and Samsung) allowed Maersk to get excellent financial conditions on hull construction and system assembly/integration. Each ship took about a year to build (Daewoo has large enough facilities to build three such ships at a time). Maersk obtained both a two-year warranty (other shipyards offer one-year warranties) and a so called “tail-heavy” payment: 40% during construction and 60% after Maersk has conducted sea trials after delivery.

Hence it should not come as a surprise that in late 2016 Daewoo was caught in a massive accounting scandal. It was discovered that the firm, instead of being profitable, had accumulated dizzying losses in 2015 and 2016 of 6 trillion won ($4.8 billion). Only a direct government loan of US $2.6 billion in March 2017 allowed Daewoo to avoid bankruptcy.

And challenges in the industry abound.

In 2016 MAN released the result of a study it had carried out at a time single-engine configurations were becoming attractive even for gargantuan projects after the success of the Wärtsilä RTA96C.

MAN said the computer simulations and theoretical studies found only one real challenge for building straight engines with as many as 18 cylinders and pistons with a bore as wide as 1200 mm. As a comparison the largest version of the RTA96C “only” has fourteen cylinders and a piston bore of 960 mm. That challenges, which may become a deal-breaker, is building the colossal crankshafts required for these monster engines.

The largest crankshafts produced so far for marine engines are built in three sections, each of which has to be machined from a huge cast part of forged steel to truly exacting standards of precision.

This photo (via MAN) shows a section of a crankshaft for a large MAN B&W engine. Note the little men under it:

There are only four firms in the world that can cast and machine these crankshafts: HSD Mechatronics and Hyundai Heavy Industries of Korea, Sidenor of Spain, and Kobe Steel (KOBELCO) of Japan. The process is expensive and time-consuming. The crankshaft is by far the most expensive part of these marine engines and, unless there’s some technological breakthrough, may be what will limit the size that piston engines may reach.

Crankshafts are just one of the many parts in an engine that can fail. Modern engines are designed for being mostly serviced in situ. Shipowners now demand most repairs to be carried out with minimal downtime, for example during an ordinary harbor stop.

Companies such as Goltens, to name but the most famous, specialize not merely in offering shipboard repairs but also in-situ machining, annealing, and even line boring to cut this downtime to the absolute minimum and thus allow shipowners to maintain their contractual obligations. The crankshaft from a cruise-ship diesel engine can be replaced in as little as 12 hours during a scheduled harbor stop and without cutting the watertight bulkheads, thus not impacting operations. Amazing.

I hope this gave a small peek into some of the challenges of the shipping industry. The challenges ahead are huge, but human ingenuity seems to know no bounds when stimulated the right way. By MC01, a frequent commenter on WOLF STREET .

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  101 comments for “ The Engines of the Largest Container Ships in the World, and Challenges their Manufacturers Face ”

When I was little kid living in Beloit WI, Colt’s engine plant had a massive muffler outside x2 as tall as the manufacturing building. When they would test fire an engine (nuke sub backup engine etc) the ground in the near vicinity would shake violently.

My wife’s uncle was a machinist in that plant and I have toured it multiple times. The scale of those engines, while not as big as the marine diesels in the article, are incredible!

I was fortunate on one visit to see one start and run. Awesome engine!

18,000 plus TEU’S on one propeller, is not an environmentally safe, ship design.

“… two-stroke …” all in the name of consumption of things…sickening… we really are committing suicide.

It is interesting that these behemoths are still two stroke designs burning cheap bunker oil. Going to four stroke designs would improve emissions but power density would suffer. I’m sure the EPA is working on diesel particulate filter and urea injection requirements for these monsters.

These things are predominantly outside the jurisdiction of the EPA.

They have run on Bunker for so long as to date nobody has stood up and said Hey what about. thissi changing quickly as they will hav e to.

Cheaper and simpler to run them on NG/LPG than add all those emission elements to what must for various reasons, be as simple as possible, engine systems.

More pollution is put out by those ships then all the cars in the world.

They started with cars in the late 60’s.

Think how much pollution could have been avoided, in the following HALF A CENTURY if they had started on international Maritime vessels at the same time.

It is Calculated that Maritime Shipping puts out more pollution than Germany, annual. How much of that is so Corprates can save on labour costs, by exporting jobs to dirty china and india.

When they started on clean air, they first went after Soots.

As you could see them.

They missed CO2 and Methane.

What they still will not admit, is they got it back to front.

First they should have attacked CO2 and Methane, as they were the green house gasses. Instead they stripped away the Soots that were helping to alleviate the effects of the green house gasses by providing a sun screen.

That they made a mistake is not the issue, that they will not admit it, IS.

I’ll try to answer without being too technical.

The reason why two stroke otto engines have such a bad emission record is because the crankshaft bearings are lubricated by oil mixed with the fuel/air mixture. This leads to a lot unburnt fuel/air/oil mix being released into the atmosphere. By contrast two stroke diesel have their crankshaft bearings lubricated by pressurized oil, just like an ordinary four stroke engine. In modern two stroke diesels the bulk of the pollution comes from the fuel itself. Yes, there are ways to reduce it, but when you burn thousands of liters of oil only a little less dense than bitumen per hour you cannot have just baby foxes coming out of the exhaust.

The EPA cannot do anything about these ships, as the US are bound by law to the MARPOL protocol, whose details will be explained in a forthcoming piece. Any change to it has to be negotiated with a plethora of international partners and legislating bodies, like it has been done so far.

California requires container ships to switch to low-sulfur fuel within 24 miles of the coast. In some coastal counties these vessels account for 50 percent of NOx emissions. There is also a speed-reduction incentive program that pays vessels for slowing down in coastal areas to reduce emissions.

Thanks for the post/contribution. Cool stuff, well written.

2 stroke engines are more efficient than 4 strokes, and they don’t use bunker oil. Bunker oil or furnace fuel oil as we called it in the navy is reserved for external combustion engines.

Big cargo ships use various grades of bunker. We’ll post an article on this in a couple of days.

Many fast navy ships have gas turbines — and since before WWI had steam turbines — instead of piston engines, and they use a different fuel.

WWII subs had 2-stroke diesel engines. They were diesel-electrics with no connection between the diesel engines and the electric motors that drove the props.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balao-class_submarine

I was basically a tour guide on the Bowfin in Pearl Harbor for a year or so. Diesel boats are cool!

The Titanic had triple expansion reciprocating engines for the port and starboard screws and a a centerline turbine for the center screw. The business decision to compete on luxury and size rather than speed drove this design.

“2 stroke engines are more efficient than 4 strokes, and they don’t use bunker oil. Bunker oil or furnace fuel oil as we called it in the navy is reserved for external combustion engines.”

In the NAVY being the words of relevance.

Which is why the Japanese cried, when the last US diesel fueled carrier stationed there, was withdrawn

Two stroke engines have a simpler valve train, but require a blower in order to combine the intake/exhaust/compression strokes into one. They run at slower revolutions/min which is probably a necessity to completely burn the cheap and heavy fuel oil. Slower speed also allows the engines to connect directly to a propeller without a transmission between.

I think big diesels run slow for two reasons.

Because diesel fuel is injected at a metered rate it takes notable amount of time for it to burn completely inside the huge cylinders. And because at that scale the mechanical resonance of the engine parts are low frequency. So if you ran it fast, it combustion wouldn’t complete. And harmonics in the engine would destroy it.

The Wärtsilä RTA96C operates at 22-120 RPM! To put that into perspective, Otto-cycle (gas) car engines idle at 500-1000 RPM. Bore and stroke are 37.75 in. by 8.4 ft, so a man could stand inside of the combustion chamber with room to spare. Every other cycle is a power cycle in a 2 stroke engine, which allows them to run at a slower speed.

Here is an instructor presenting a Detroit Diesel 2-cycle engine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rws_2kFahBI

Thanks MC01. Interesting information. Two-stroke diesel? Sounds like a pollution machine.

The sweet spot of over the road diesel engine technology was around 2000-2004 with reasonable emission requirements and excellent fuel efficiency. With tier 4 and later emission requirements, fuel consumption went up about 8-10% and maintenance costs surged due to exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), diesel particulate filters (DPFs) that require raw fuel injection into the filter to burn off particulate and Urea injection.

There is such a thing as regulatory overreach. You know what I’m taking about if you have ever used one of the new EPA mandated fuel canisters. I have spilled more fuel with these vent-less contraptions. Good thing they can (still) be retrofitted with the old spouts and vents.

RE: single engines on monster ships. Some experts in maritime disasters disapprove of a single power source. They don’t fail often but they do, and then the ship can only drift.

At least in theory, though, nowadays if the engine quits they can yelp for help on the radio.

Nick makes a good point. When one quits it’s typically in the midst of a raging storm. Good luck with a phone call. A very excellent article and commentary, Wolf.

Nick, Another good topic to explore is the economics of sea-going tugs….

“Nick, Another good topic to explore is the economics of sea-going tugs….”

What Economics, Ocean salvage tugs are a necessity. Economic High performance, is an oxy moron.

You buy fuel, a calculate usage, by the 10’s of Tons.

Any salvage or heavy weight service Vehicle or Vessel is inherently fuel inefficient, due to the tasks it is required to undertake.

One I worked on was required to regularly undertake a 1 hour full power pull test.

They tie it to a bollard on a Warf/Pier then (Try) to operate it a full power for 1 hour.

Normally it fails then gets a calculated pass after an argument as normally after about 20 minutes it pulls the end off the Warf/Pier down or pulls the bollard off the end of the Warf/Pier.

When Empty, not towing, in good weather, it could attain Maximum hull speed on 1 of its 4 Massive Detroit/MTU Turbocharged Engines.

The only trouble we ever had with those engines was Cylinder head cracking, as Detroit cast a faulty batch of heads, and we had some. They replaced them as they cracked, under warranty. Time consuming but not difficult job replacing them as it had a large engine room.

Basically it was a floating engine room, with fuel-tanks (2000 tons plus was the smallest), and a winch attached to it.

That type of vessel can tow loaded 20,000 TEU carries around the world, and laugh.

Based in Australia now, used to be based in NZ, till the Aussies brought the company. They Demanded the crew base in Australia, as a way of getting rid of most of the Non Aussie members. No money on that Job for the workers, at Aussie tax rates.

Most off us on it, were previously officially stateless for tax purposes.

Now we need to work on cleaner Fuel Usage Issues. IIRC, the “cheap and dirty” Fuel were used in Intl Waters. Pity the Petroleum KleptOchlarchs killed off Mister Diesel, who designed his engine to run on Plant based Oils.

Generally speaking, Conventionally Powered US Navy Ships used a standard quality of what we referred to as DFM – Diesel Fuel, Marine; and comparable quality fuel were purchased when abroad.

After Retiring from a 20 Year Active Duty Career in ’61, my Late Father spent his 2nd 20 Years for the Navy in the Auxillary Fleet of Tankers, Oilers, Oceanographic, and Supply Ships manned by Civil Service Sailors.

I recall him giving us a quick tour of some of his Ships he worked onboard. He even Sailed to Antarctica on Operation Deep Freeze once.

Funny seeing years myself as a young Logistics Ensign on a Cruiser in the same Fleet, same Port, and Refueling off the very Ships he used to Sail on. My Father Retired from the Aux Fleet a few years before I became Commissioned. I had a few Midshipman Cruises in the Pacific; but they were on Nuke Subs.

Fate sent me back home – I was all set on chasing Bikini-clad Dames in SoCal or Hawaii; but Logistics School Options had Seal Team Six, Nuclear Reactors Support – yet no Attack Submarine (Father was a Submariner) or F-18 Squadron. I was in an Ensign Pool until someone in Japan was fired. I spoke the Language, I suggested they send others who never left their home state before joining the Navy, yet they sent me anyway.

I Sailed the Seas, even into War Zones on Convoy Duty (Iran-Iraq War), and at the end of my Tour, helped my Parents move to the States.

Even had one of those Massive Tankers we escorted save us from a Mine (Bridgetown). Prior to that incident, a Warship took the Lead Positon of Convoys.

I was hoping for some, hard, accurate, unbiased, fuel consumption and emission Data.

Also so comparisons between normal Diesel, and Bunker oil fueled vessels.

From more accurate Sources, than those found in Search.

Maybe in another article.

We’ll publish an article on bunker in a few days. I already have the draft in front of me. These are big topics, one at a time.

Fuel consumption figures depend to some extent on the ship and speed. Just a like a car. You can put the same engine in a compact car or in an SUV, and fuel consumption will change a lot (weight, aerodynamics etc.) Similar for ships. There are specs for how much fuel a big diesel like this burns in an hour, but that’s just fuel consumption per hour. Fuel economy involves what it accomplishes with this amount of fuel over this time period. A ship with better fuel economy might haul more payload over the same distance at the same speed, and versions thereof.

After we publish the somewhat complicated article on bunker, MCO1 might consider doing an article on fuel economy and the issues involved, including speed, size, etc. One topic at a time.

Thats good.

This area (Bunker) is important and has been missing in the Warming debate, Environmental regulations, for far to long.

After doing a bit of research on these engines, and reading the Wartsilia webpage on the RTA96C, I figured that:

The Number 6 or Bunker C HFO has a density 1.010 g/cm3 The engine is at maximum efficiency of 160 g/kWh Using MC01’s efficiency rating of 170 g/kWh, the Emma Maersk (powered by this motor & commissioned back in September 2006) when running at 60% power uses 13,736 kg/hour In a 24 hour day at this 60% output, it adds up to 200,000 kg of fuel used.

The RTA96C has a rating of 80,080 kilowatts and using the conversion of 1 horsepower = 745.7 watts, that’s 1078,389 ponies!

What can I say, I’m a semi-retired motor head with a physics degree who likes to crunch numbers.

Gotta re-read my notes as 13,736 kg/hour is at maximum output. At 60%, with 170g/kWh efficiency the number is 8,240 kg per hour.

Thank you MC01 and Wolf for publishing this!

Ok, one more correction 107,390 hp.

Great article. Thanks Wolf for posting.

MCO1: What happened to Sulzer Brothers of Winterthur, Switzerland and Burmeister-Wain in Copenhagen? Are they out of the business of large diesel engine manufacture?

Crankshafts: The process of manufacture, I witnessed at Kobe steel in Japan was as follows: The crankshaft journals, webs, and crankpins were forged and machined as separate pieces. The crankshaft was then built-up vertically by heating the webs and shrink fitting them to the crankpins and journals. The mating parts being highly polished to secure a good contact of fit. I asked how they could assure the accuracy of the angles of the throws by this method? They told me they just had to get it close, as the engine had adjustable cams operating the fuel injectors and any angular error in the throws is corrected by the fuel cam adjustment.

Fuel Consumption: A ships fuel consumption varies as the cube of the speed. Double the speed and you will burn 8 times the amount of fuel. I worked on a steam turbine powered ship (36,000 shp) which burned about 200 tons/day at full power. Current fuel prices for bunker fuel are about $425/ton at Houston. 200 tons = 1300 bbl. = 55,000 gal./day which translates into $85,000/day fuel costs. Serious money. A large bore diesel of the same horsepower will burn less than 1/2 that number. You can see why they are used.

Sulzer doesn’t make an engine of its own of that size. The Sulzer engine you might have in mind is Wärtsilä-Sulzer engine that is discussed in the article as the “Wärtsilä RTA96C.”

Burmeister & Wain became part of MAN in 1980. Hence the “MAN B&W,” whose crankshaft is shown in the photo in the article.

I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you. In horrible, horrible fashion. ;-)

The first thing I told myself when writing this piece was to avoid being too technical. This is meant to be an introduction, not a direct comparison between engines, propulsion systems, hull types and auxilliary systems such as waste heat recovery. If you need such a thing you probably already work for Maersk, MSC or COSCO. In which case I need to ask: just how long do you expect the China trade to keep on growing at this pace? ;-)

It’s a very good, and interesting, article. Thanks.

What came to my mind was the lack of diversity in manufacturing.. Only one firm is outside the area of potential conflict with N Korea can manufacture these big cranks. Just another glitch in globalization.

This is not a glitch. In fact I am surprised there four firms able to do this job and not just one.

The reasons are simple: the investments, facilities and know-how needed to manufacture these things are simply staggering. These modern crankshafts have each throw manufactured from a single casting (semi-built crankcases) while in the past each throw was assembled from separate webs and crankpins (fully-built crankcases). Consider that each throw can weigh more than ten tons and has to be machined to truly exacting standards of precision. Just to give an example the bores for the main journals (which are shrink fit) have an allowance of less than 1/600 of the diameter.

In the late 80’s MAN tried to introduce welded crankshafts, which used much smaller cast parts and had the advantage of continous grain flow (meaning the crankshaft could be made lighter without sacrificing reliability). The submerged arc welding system used was a true wonder of engineering. Yet MAN stopped after just twenty crankshafts. Why? Because the process was so expensive it could not compete with neither fully-built nor semi-built crankshafts and, albeit these crankshafts have proven very reliable, the extra cost could not be justified.

I wonder if these crankshafts are a future candidate for 3d printing?

I am too old and stodgy to really get into 3D printing. As Confucian scholars are wont to say “We have to leave something for future generations to do”. Plus I was trained as a chemist, not as an engineer or CAD designer, so all my knowledge about 3D printing comes from hearing other people talk or the occasional piece I read.

I know there are now several prototypes of metal 3D printers that are designed to work on very large pieces, up to one metric ton in weight. I have no idea how close these prototypes are to being even remotely commercialy viable nor of how they compete with casting and machining when it comes to the bottom line (costs).

Mind these crankshafts are usually made from HSLA (High Strength Low Alloy) steel, not the nodular cast steel now favored by the automotive industry for the same applications and I haven’t heard about HSLA steel being used in 3D printing so far but, as said, I am not exactly in the loop. I hope some young up and coming engineer or metal chemist will drop in soon to fill us in with the details.

In a prior life I worked for a group that manufactured machines that used large one piece forged cranks. Largest crank was around 15 tons with counterweights and 20 inch throws. That’s small compared to those marine diesel cranks. Even with the ‘medium’ sized cranks, the number of manufactures are pretty limited and the price is pretty high. At one time the USA had shops that could build those cranks. That’s long past.

We had looked at Vítkovice Heavy Machinery in Czech Republic. They were doing large cranks for marine engines at the time. Don’t know if they still are. We eventually settled on assembled crankshaft using oil injection method for assembly. This lowered the crankshaft cost by 40% and allowed the use of lower cost one piece bearings on the throw pins and center mains.

This was like watching a documentary, interesting but in the “I will ever need to know this for trivia” kind of way.

Thank you for the information. I had no clue container ships were so expensive.

Now even if Wind power and Solar power starts to become way cheaper than any other fuel source in a few years, these ships will still need fuel.

Looks like transport in the sea will be lagging behind about being green.

And where are the solar powered trains dang it?

“Three engine manufacturers have come to dominate the market for the giant low-speed two-stroke diesel engines used in the largest container ships, bulk carriers, and tankers: MAN SE of Germany, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan, and Wärtsilä of Finland.”

“There are only four firms in the world that can cast and machine these crankshafts: HSD Mechatronics and Hyundai Heavy Industries of Korea, Sidenor of Spain, and Kobe Steel (KOBELCO) of Japan.”

That is just one example of how dependent the U.S. is on foreign heavy industry. We can only go so far on tattoo parlors, law firms, nail salons, check cashing stores, and Snapchat.

My interest was centered on the same two statements. It brought to mind the old Bethlehem Steel plant in Pennsylvania. I got to see it before it was dismantled and turned into a casino. I hope that casino can make up for gaps in the global supply chain when all hell breaks loose.

I remember reading somewhere that there is no longer a U.S. producer of the transformers used in the electric grid and that the majority are made in Korea, with a very long lead time in production and transportation. To say that our politicians have dropped the ball on critical parts of national security infrastructure would be an extreme understatement.

That is true, Even GE Canada and GE Brazil have now gone out of that business. A very serious problem. the lead time for a big transformer is 18 months or more.

This would be a security issue only if the US was embargoed for years by all four. This niche business is not typical of the machine industry, it is highly unusual. Very unusual size cranks, with two or three customers. It would make no commercial sense for a fifth player to enter, unless of course it could get tariffs on the other four.

Then there is the plight of Hershey that is supplied with that ultra-thin foil for chocolates by a foreign outfit, which may be hit by tariffs. So just do it here? It wouldn’t make sense. You would split the niche with the other outfit which is selling world wide, leaving not much for either of you.

Long ago Ford almost got itself in trouble with vertical integration: ‘we use steel so we should own steel mills. The steel mills use coal so we should own coal mines etc.’

But I agree with your main point: the structure of the US (and Canadian) economies is out of whack. One point from today’s Globe and Mail: the size of the total real estate sector: construction, financing, sales, legal etc., is now two standard deviations from the historical mean.

It’s never been that big before. The article giving that info adds that it is now impossible to have a correction to the norm in real estate without: ‘Best case: a 2008 (not as bad in Can as in US)….or

Worst case: highest unemployment since the Depression’

PS: total RE sector is total Canadian sector.

One thing that makes the U.S. unique at the moment is the sheer amount of capital being burnt up in obvious scam companies like Tesla, Snapchat, Netflix, Uber, etc. and on spending of dubious value like student loans for college. When capital is destroyed this way it crowds out spending on key capital assets that are important for a nation’s long term success.

I don’t think any other country can match the U.S. in this ignominious distinction!

Very interesting article. Thanks MC01

Facscinating and worthwhile, MC01; thanks for the article!

Let me second that John. Wolf’s blog is countering our rapid degeneration into a cargo cult.

I see what you did there

Very very interesting article. I realize such low rpm and finely machined components ensure that engine failure is unlikely, however, two engines might keep one of these monsters off the rocks. massive sea-going rescue tugs aren’t always readily available in most of the world.

Just my opinion, but it isn’t enough of a reason to cite expense and high seas to get a pass on pollution. Bunker C is way past its time and mankind needs to power transport with cleaner fuels.

Of course I can name a major consuming nation whose leadership does not accept climate change and is actively promoting coal. Oh well.

Thanks for such an interesting read.

The single/double engine issue is very similar to the number of engines used in jetliners.

Still in 1980, when Airbus had already been selling the A300 for four years and Boeing was designing the 767, the idea that twinjets could carry passengers safely over the Atlantic, let alone Pacific, Ocean was still so outrageous even the FAA was publicly against it despite the damage it would have caused to Boeing, Pratt & Whitney and General Electric, all US companies with very strong lobbying arms. Then came ETOPS and now twinjet widebodies such as the Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 are the mainstays of long-distance flying. These days Korean Air flies their Dreamliner twins non-stop between Madrid and Seoul three times per week, with a flying time of over 12 hours. Nobody bats an eyelid.

Shipping companies such as Maersk and MSC know perfectly well the costs of having a stranded ship. Insurance, recovery, repairs and especially making customers whole are not merely big but huge costs that need to be cut down as much as possible otherwise they’ll impact not merely financials but operations as well. And as COSCO learned, environmental cleanup and fines can add a big fat layer of costs.

Here is one way it’s different. A modern twin jet can fly on one: the old regs were for piston twins that could barely do so.

So two minus one is one. which is doable. But one minus one is zero, which is a disaster.

In 1954 the FAA restricted jets with less than four engines specifically to never being more than sixty minutes of flight away from an airport. This was the so-called sixty minutes rule and the reason why Boeing developed the 720 from the 707 for medium range routes as a stop-gap measure while they worked to have FAA wave this rule for three-engined aircraft. This paved the way for the highly successful 727, the successful McDonnel-Douglas DC10 and the… well, not so successful Lockheed Tristar, the aircraft that almost sank Lockheed and Rolls-Royce at the same time.

Your article was nicely written but it has a few inaccuracies or slight omissions that generated several comments which made me chuckle.

Number of Main Engines; Not sure why the article makes an issue about ships lacking main engine redundancy, as if this is something new. I believe using an airplane to be a very poor example. Ships are not on par with planes when propulsion is lost. As i understand it, hydrodynamic platforms float on liquid. While aeronautic platforms require fluid flow over the wing to stay aloft in air. In short, lost propulsion = ships float and planes crash.

Historically, the vast majority of large commercial ocean going deep sea bulk, container & tank ship vessels are propelled by a single fixed screw, single direct connected multi-cylinder in-line slow speed 2 stroke direct reversing crosshead type diesel engine. This is based upon pure economics of cost/profit, from construction/operation and return due via viable freight space. Passenger ships utilize multi-engine diesel electric configurations due to flexibility as they have a very high “hotel electrical” load, strong need for lower propulsion to hull vibration transmission and the ability to disperse power generation away from having a large single central space, as other forms of ocean freight transport employ.

I’ve also worked on some what smaller vessels (650 foot long) that utilized multi-diesel 4 stroke medium speed engines that either had 2 engines clutched to one set of reversing/reduction gear (efficient engine speed is higher than efficient propeller speed) or it had a CPP (controllable pitch propeller) or twin screw where each medium speed engine had its own reversing/reduction gear coupled via clutch to its own propeller line shafting. When compared to a direct coupled slow speed diesel, each multi engine arrangement requires more equipment and sub systems for support, which take up potential cargo space, have higher initial costs for procurement and installation along with increased life time maintenance costs. Its cheaper and law of average for component failure being lower to maintain 1 huge 9 cylinder in-line main engine then 2 smaller V-18 cylinder type main engines.

Bottom line; large 2 stroke crosshead type diesel engines obtain higher combustion efficiency vrs 4 stroke trunk type engines, while producing more power per combustion cycle. This is mainly due to crosshead diesel engines aren’t hampered by stroke to bore ratio limitations like 4 stroke trunk type engines suffer from. The longer the piston stroke, more power is extracted from the heat of combustion as the expanding exhaust gas can impart more downward force longer, thus more torque to the crankshaft throw is imparted, which in turn performs the mechanical work of a rotating crankshaft. Large slow speed engines have a typical stroke of 8.5 to 10 feet, with the piston & its rod reciprocating vertical. The piston rod is connected to a crosshead, as it accommodates the oscillations of the upper connecting rod while the big end orbits around with the crank throw pin. In a trunk engine, stroke length of the crank throw combined with con-rod oscillation over its length from piston to big end, has the limitation of not striking the cylinder wall. Every diesel engine has the majority of its power developed where maximum piston velocity occurs during the power stroke, typically its around 90 degrees ATDC.

Large slow speed main engines are direct reversing … meaning the firing order can be changed which in turn will change the direction of flywheel rotation. Example; in-line 6 firing order is 1,5,3,6,2,4 for clockwise rotation to go ahead. Changing the order to fire 4,2,6,3,5,1 will cause the crankshaft to rotate counter clockwise, providing astern direction. On older engines this is done by either rotating (90 degrees) or sliding the fuel pump cam to another set of lobes. On current “cam-less” engines its done electronically via manipulating hydraulic devices that would take way too much time to explain here.

Why does it run so slow; Because of the engine’s physical moving parts size (6 foot long crank shaft throws orbiting around 3 foot diameter main journal bearing pins, 3 ton oscillating 8 foot long con-rods, with 1 ton reciprocating crossheads and a 10 foot long piston rod weighing 2 tons, all comprise each cylinders running gear) material of the rotating mass inertia and harmonics are what dictate the rotational speed range of the flywheel. Which on large slow speed diesel engines coincides with the efficient speed of the propeller (aka, screw). For the largest of slow speed diesel engines, they tend to max out at 102 RPM, with slightly smaller bores and much shorter stroke engines maxing out around 120 RPM. Both numbers mean very little with respect to fuel consumption per distance travelled unless compared to the propeller curve. As the actual engine load and developed cylinder mean effective pressure are taken into consideration. Not following the prescribed PM schedule and/or operating a main engine over loaded in the prop “B” zone for an extended period of time, lead to component failures. So, a ships engine power requirements stem from the need to rotate the propeller and the propeller size/blade pitch are predicated on the vessel size and designed service speed. When required horse power is determined, its the cart before the horse method.

Fuel: Modern slow speed crosshead and medium speed trunk diesel engines are built to burn the dregs of the crude oil refining processes. There are large slow speed dual fuel diesel engines that can burn a high percentage of methane gas using a diesel injector pilot arrangement for combustion of both but unless LNG is the cargo, there currently lacks a full global commitment of infrastructure to support gas consumption at this time but markets are developing and methane is the future. But for now, they are incinerators burning the by-products of consumer useful fuels. Its called HFO (heavy fuel oil) with a viscosity index number (ie. HFO 380), which is basically an unstable blend of asphalt with lighter distillates and full of impurities that requires extensive processing on board the ship prior to injection and combustion. This is done by heating, centrifugal separation and filtration. However IMO (International Maritime Organization) via international treaties have imposed limitations on HFO sulfur content globally and established zones where either ultra low sulfur (distillate fuel only, like #1 fuel oil), fuel must be used or exhaust scrubbing systems be employed which also help vessel operators meet IMO global regulations for Nox and PM emission limits. In California and elsewhere local environmental laws impact normal plant operation, several operators utilize “cold iron” where they shut down the ships power generating diesels and plug into the grid via a source on the dock using a retractable power cord.

Might as well mention how main engine exhaust gas generates steam in a stack boiler, used to heat the HFO and which can be (is on some plants) used to spin a stand alone steam turbine generator, which supplies a main power buss, that in turn can apply power to the main diesel engine propeller line shaft motor/generator arrangement …. which can also generate electrical power to the main buss depending on total refrigerated container electrical load while keeping the main diesel generators secured. In other words it can be operated as a generator driven by the main engine to keep other diesel engines off line or operated as a electrical motor to impart power into the propeller shaft so less fuel needs to be consumed for propulsion, depending on the total electrical load and desired speed of the ship to meet its cargo delivery commitments.

Typically on modern vessels 4 licensed engineers with the assistance of 3 unlicensed crew members hold the responsibility to keep the plant in operation and perform the engine maintenance. On modern ships when they arrive in port, its time for the engineering staff to hit the deck with tools in hand to perform main engine inspections and overhauls. Its rare to get ashore.

I’ve been a licensed marine engineering officer since 1975, holding a globally recognized endorsement for unlimited HP as CE for both steam and diesel propulsion modes. I’ve worked in several shipyards in Europe, America and Asia along with witnessing large slow speed engines being built at HMD in Ulsan Korea, and hope the above has helped fill some gaps the article may have created. I’ve worked in a few refineries too, so I’m looking forward to your fuel article … roll of eyes, with a smile.

Red Beard, I don’t know if you are a regular follower or tipped this way from one of our readers due to your experience, if so, welcome aboard (pun intended).

These mega ships forced the Panama Canal to undergo a lengthy and expensive expansion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_expansion_project

When all is said and done, its still profitable business that foots the bill for these engines and indeed, the very ships that they are in. Utilizing weekly five year charts of some of the largest seaborne carriers, the touted global recovery meme does not hold water. (pardon the pun)

As a for instance, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) 200 DMA weekly over five years long term trend, is down and has flat lined. The Diana Shipping (DSX) five year weekly trend is down and has flat lined. Finally a small ray of hope, with Hapag Llloyd (HLAG) which has slowly been grinding up, but has flat lined since this past Autumn.

So much for the “synchronized global recovery” fairytale. Many of these ship building maritime long term loans, will find themselves underwater (pun intended) if global commerce conditions get any worse. Along with their creditors (banks) that hold the loan paper. Could be that will be all they own at the end of it – worthless paper.

Banks have probably sold that off too, the criminal FED bailout gave them their out opportunity to sell into strength.

Thanks for the article on these monsters, MC01

Very interesting – so few places can make these crankshafts!

smaller engine teardown, still impressive!

https://imgur.com/a/k94WmHt

A fascinating read. We need more of these. ;)

Great piece. I would like very much if something like this was a regular feature on wolfstreet.

MC01, are you getting the message?

I read “regular” as in “when you’ll be retired or days will have at least 36 hours”. ;-)

This was a amazingly wonderful posting – many thanks from me too for the time spent in pulling it together.

Very informative and very enjoyable read. Thank you..

agreed. very interesting article

These are fuel-injected 2-strokes, no doubt. That makes a huge difference concerning the unspent fuel emissions that gives the typical 2-stroke it’s reputation.

Two stroke diesels have always been fuel injected. When Doxford, JuMo and Detroit Diesel started to make them popular mechanically-actuated unit injectors were used, just like on ordinary diesels. Then came Electronically Controlled Fuel Injection (EFI) and finally Common Rail.

By contrast the challenges of making an FI two stroke otto cycle engine are huge. The reasons for this is that in a two stroke diesel the crankshaft bearings are lubricated by pressurized oil, just like on a four stroke. By contrast an otto cycle two stroke engine needs oil mixed with the fuel air mixture and circled through the crankcase to lubricate the bearings. This leads to the reason why two stroke are such dirty engines: a large part of that oil/fuel/air mixture is dumped back into the atmosphere.

Fuel injection for otto cycle two stroke engines have always been a sort of engineering Holy Grail. Honda, despite their general lack of interest in these engines, was the first company to have a workable EFI which they used on some racing motorcycles in the 80’s. In more recent years Kokusan Denki developed a three-injectors system for two stroke engines which showed some promise and was commercially used in some commercial motorcycle engines before the plug was pulled due to a change in ownership. Stihl of Germany is presently the only manufacturer offering a commercially available otto-cycle FI two stroke in form of cut-off (concrete) saws.

Great contribution. And I thought making optical cables eas the marvel of engineering. Can domeone write such contribution?

https://newatlas.com/shipping-pollution/11526/

Link above for info on ship fuel consumption. It is this type of information that makes the whole climate change seem totally insane. Somehow it is efficient for a Pakistani to make my shirts and ship across the globe using these monster ships to my nearby friendly retailer… such nonsense .. 15 of the largest ships emit the equivalent emissions of 760 million cars … amazing vessels but the global trade meme is simply global labor exploitation

I am not Happy with those sort of sensationalist numbers which is why I asked for truthful unbiased ones.

I worked on a Four engine salvage tug, with detroits for a while, we used tons of diesel an hour. when working, those numbers dont sound wright.

The emissions from those bunker fueled container vessels are bad, but not that bad.

The emissions are really, really bad, as attested to by the soot we get through our windows here in San Francisco. The winds nearly always come from the West (Pacific). The nearest industrial installation west of our building is in Japan. We have one of the windows open almost all the time, and the amount of soot that settles on the window sill in just one week is just stunning. We suspect that it is from the shipping traffic into and out of the Bay. The container ships going to the Port of Oakland pass about 1.5 miles from the window. The tankers to and from the refinery terminals in Richmond pass by several miles away. Other bulk carriers vary.

Yes re: SF soot. Not to mention the West Coast version of the “Paris Hack”.

They are most defiantly obscene.

This I know.

The point being you can not have a real debate based on false numbers and half truths unless you are P 45 and all that is false goes your way.

I have plenty of, Torque, Hp, Fuel consumption per hour, at any given rpm charts, for small marine engines. Which can be used to calculate the emissions with reasonable accuracy for entities that will not give out that data.

Thats the DATA required for the argument around bigger engines

That accurate information for the engines in question, is there, it is just very difficult for the non-connected to obtain it. For the reasons your nose, in proximity of your open SF Bay window, tells you.

Try sailing behind one, on the downwind side.

BE CAREFUL how you clean and dispose of that soot.

IT IS CARCINOGENIC.

All the nasties in crude that are not wanted in anything else, and not destroyed in the combustion process, end up in that Soot..

In the bay the engines will not be at premium operating temperature, and speed, so emitting more unburnt fuel.

In our Harbour (One of teh best boating Harbours in the world) we are lucky, predominant winds, are offshore.

Wolf, how close are you to the Bay Bridge? The trucks pouring over there could add to the soot.

I can see it in the distance :-]

We’re above Aquatics Park, about 2.5 miles or so north-west from the nearest part of the Bay Bridge. And since the wind almost always comes from the west, the nasty stuff from the Bay Bridge is not something we have to worry about, thank goodness.

I understand your sentiments regarding the numbers but I tend to believe the numbers are close to the truth. That was the first article I had seen regarding the topic and didn’t paint the rosy picture of these monster ships. I was a propulsion engineer for turbine engines on aircraft not diesel engines on maritime vessels (22k lbs per hr per engine @ takeoff thrust for 747-8 engines)

This is something I can relate to. 22k lbs./hr is about 230 tons/day which is close to what my ship consumed per day.

This link has numbers similar to the LiveBunkers link I posted a week ago in response to MC01’s comments on the ‘Freight Costs, Volume, Demand …’ feature which triggered this feature on engines. It also mentions the Emma Maersk which I did some calculations on as I posted earlier.

Assume that the Emma Maersk is running its 14 cylinder engine at 60% of its potential power output and is running at a high efficiency, but not maximum efficiency; say it’s at 170 grams of fuel per kiloWatt hour. One day’s fuel would be 196 cubic metres, but if one visualizes two 53″ semi trailers fully loaded, that’s how much is required.

As others have commented, bunker fuel is nasty stuff that’s left over from refining oil. Asphalt, and roofing shingles also are made from the leftovers at the refinery I reckon.

They can make coke from bunker fuel.

Turning it into Coke dose not take the emissions away, just moves the places the emissions are made.

They use 2 stroke engines on container ships?

Speaking from my experience with smaller but still large engines (3000-6000 kw for locomotives, where EMD had to abandon its 2-stroke diesels), I think that environmental regs may require the replacement of those engines sooner, rather than later, particularly at places like Long Beach, where (entirely justifiable) accusations of environmental racism are becoming more common.

How do they start these monster engines ?

With a smaller “Start Engine”. Literally a “Starter Motor”.

Generally an air-start system is used, like on many larger diesel engines: electric starters are just impratical for engines this size and with such high compression and hydraulic starters, albeit well suited for large diesels, would add a layer of un-needed complexity for no real benefits. While similar in principle to that used on lorries there are some significant differences in how the compressed air is injected into the cylinder to force the piston down. There are also procedures to be followed when restarting the engines to ensure there’s no moisture buildup in the cylinder, especially if the ship has been laid up for any length of time.

Great post and comments; thx, all, and especially MC01. The photo really brought this story to life, and I hope that the follow-up posts on related subjects are accompanied with photos.

Looking forward to the follow-ups !

There is a low sulphuric mandate that may help emissions

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/economics/new-shipping-regulations-might-send-oil-prices-up-the-roof-by-2020 ?

Check this ” MV CSCL Globe is a container ship owned and operated by China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL). The first of a class of five ships intended for Asia-Europe trade routes, she was the largest container ship in the world at the time of her launch in November 2014, with a maximum capacity of 19,100 twenty-foot containers “

No cruise ships are being built this way anymore, they all use electric-drive azipod thrusters. This allows for multiple engine/generator rooms that can be spread thru the ship for redundancy. Ditto icebreaking LNG tankers. Add bow thrusters, and expensive tugboats aren’t needed. When scale becomes an issue for an older technology, it’s time for a rethink.

Thanks MC01and Wolf for hosting. As I’m a curious old fart I like any and all interesting topics. I may write an article some day for submission on my almost 60 years of collecting coins(1959-1965), accumulating precious metals(1973-2014) and dealing coins, paper money, bullion(1978-2014).

Keep it to 700-900 words, make it a killer article, and send it to me :-]

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• Products & Services – North America
• Marine Diesel Engines | Marine Generator Systems
• Passenger Vessels and Ferry

PASSENGER VESSELS AND FERRY

Our values: Quality. Performance. Reliability. Lifecycle. Sustainability.

FUTURE-READY SOLUTIONS FOR PASSENGERS AND FERRY

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After decades of designing engines that set the standard for quality, performance, and reliability, we're also focusing on product lifecycle solutions, future fuels, and sustainability options (e.g., Cat ® Reman, extended lifetime solutions).

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® MARINE PROPULSION ENGINES: MORE POWER. HIGHER PERFROMANCE. ">CAT ® MARINE PROPULSION ENGINES: MORE POWER. HIGHER PERFROMANCE. 

The 3508C marine propulsion engine meets IMO II emissions regulation and delivers more power with lower emissions for your marine propulsion needs. Additionally, the 3508C provides outstanding fuel efficiency and lube oil consumption. Standard or reverse rotation options are available as well as worldwide parts and service. The 3500 engine platform is a streamlined and proven design that provides industry-leading reliability & durability.

The Cat 3512C marine propulsion engine makes your investment work harder. Through a wide range of available power ratings, no required aftertreatment technology, and nominal rated BSFC fuel consumption - it will drive down your total cost of ownership. With a redesigned piston bowl shape to improve combustion, and improved fuel delivery, this engine is IMO II emissions compliant and committed to sustainable environmental development. Single-source support, the Caterpillar warranty, and industry-leading one-year warranty on parts make the 3512C a fully integrated marine power solution

3512C IMO II

The Cat 3512C marine propulsion engine makes your investment work harder. Through a wide range of available power ratings (including High Displacement ratings), no required aftertreatment technology, and nominal rated BSFC fuel consumption - it will drive down your total cost of ownership. With a redesigned piston bowl shape to improve combustion, and improved fuel delivery, this engine is IMO II emissions compliant and committed to sustainable environmental development. Single-source support, the Caterpillar warranty, and industry-leading one-year warranty on parts make the 3512C a fully integrated marine power solution.

3512C Tier 3

The 3512C High Displacement marine engines are now available in a wide range of ratings that meet EPA Marine Tier 3 and IMO II regulations without any additional aftertreatment. These new propulsion, auxiliary, and DEP engines, designed and built from the current 3512C and 3516C platforms, have minimal dimensional and weight changes in comparison. Owning and operating costs are also very similar. For the specific fuel consumption of each rating please refer to the performance data. New features include stainless steel exhaust heat shields, closed crankcase ventilation system, and EPA Tier 3 compliance.

3512E Tier 4 / IMO III

The 3512E marine propulsion engine is now available in a wide range of ratings that meet U.S. EPA Tier 4 Final and IMO III marine emissions regulations. As the commercial marine industry adjusts their operations to meet U.S. EPA Tier 4 Final and IMO III emissions standards, Caterpillar Marine has introduced a solution built to maximize performance while meeting regulations. Caterpillar's combination of a fuel-efficiency-optimized engine and a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) aftertreatment system is a solution that not only reduces NOx emissions, but can also lower a customer's owning and operating costs in the process.

3516C IMO II

The 3516C propulsion engine is available with a wide range of ratings that meet IMO II regulations without any additional aftertreatment. These engines provide efficient operation with electronic governing, cold mode start strategy, and programmable low idle to minimize fuel consumption. The 3516C engine also incorporates a closed crankcase ventilation system to lower emissions.

3516C Tier 3

The 3516C propulsion engine is available with a wide range of ratings that meet EPA Tier 3 and IMO II regulations without any additional aftertreatment. These engines provide efficient operation with electronic governing, cold mode start strategy, and programmable low idle to minimize fuel consumption. The 3516C engine also incorporates a closed crankcase ventilation system to lower emissions.

Building on the durability and reliability of the 3500 engine platform, Caterpillar Marine is pleased to offer an uprated version of the Cat 3516E Marine Propulsion Engine. The high-performance engine delivers 19% more rated power, lower ambient heat rejection, and improved acceleration time. With a focus on serviceability and digitalization, this product provides easier connectivity and installation. It is designed for small engine rooms with its reduction in weight & size and is an ideal solution for Tug, Governmental, and Yachting.

3516E Tier 4 / IMO III

The 3516E marine propulsion engine is now available in a wide range of ratings that meet U.S. EPA Tier 4 Final and IMO III marine emissions regulations. As the commercial marine industry adjusts their operations to meet EPA Tier 4 Final and IMO III emissions standards, Caterpillar Marine has introduced a solution built to maximize performance while meeting regulations. Caterpillar's combination of a fuel-efficiency-optimized engine and a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) aftertreatment system is a solution that not only reduces NOx emissions, but can also lower a customer's owning and operating costs in the process.

C18 ACERT IMO II

The C18 ACERT marine propulsion engine has commercial application ratings of 454-715 bhp that meet IMO II & EU Stage IIA emissions regulations, and 469-715 bhp that meet EPA Tier 3, IMO II and EU Stage IIIA emissions regulations. In addition to the benefits the C18 ACERT's advanced marine engine technology brings, you welcome aboard legendary Cat product support. No matter where your spirit of adventure takes you, rest assured the Cat Dealer Network is close by.

C18 ACERT Tier 3

The C18 ACERT marine propulsion engine has commercial application ratings of 475-725 mhp (469-715 bhp) at 1800-2100 rpm that meet U.S. EPA Tier 3, IMO II, and EU IW emissions regulations. In addition to meeting the stricter EPA Tier 3 emissions, this engine now offers a fresh water aftercooled option for the commercial propulsion and auxiliary engines and genset packages. From fishing to offshore and everything in between, you can be confident that we have the solution to fit your needs.

A leader in the high performance medium speed engine market, the C280 is now available with 4500bkW and 6000bkW ratings to provide even greater power density in your weight critical applications. New performance iron for improved combustion efficiency and lower visible smoke, as well as a redesigned hard heat shield system are standard on all ratings. With 30 years of proven performance and durability, the C280 is the right solution for both newbuild and repower opportunities, particularly in Governmental and Ferry applications.

Building on the durability and reliability of the C280 engine platform, Caterpillar is pleased to offer the IMO II compliant C280 engine line. The core components are the same as the existing C280, including the latest in EUI fuel system capabilities and state-of-the-art ADEM™ A3 Electronic Control Unit (ECU) features. Caterpillar® products continue to deliver more available power while delivering outstanding fuel efficiency. You can also count on long maintenance intervals and worldwide Caterpillar parts and service availability.

C280-12 Tier 4/ IMO III

Building on the durability and reliability of the C280 engine platform, Caterpillar is pleased to offer the EPA Tier 2 compliant C280 engine line. The core components are the same as the existing C280, including the latest in EUI fuel system capabilities and state-of-the-art ADEM™ A3 Electronic Control Unit (ECU) features. Caterpillar® products continue to deliver more available power while delivering outstanding fuel efficiency. You can also count on long maintenance intervals and worldwide Caterpillar parts and service availability.

Building on the durability and reliability of the C280 engine platform, Caterpillar is pleased to offer the EPA Tier 2 compliant C280 engine line.

Building on the durability and reliability of the C280 engine platform, Caterpillar is pleased to offer the IMO II C280 engine line. The core components are the same as the existing C280, including the latest in EUI fuel system capabilities and state-of-the-art ADEM™ A3 Electronic Control Unit (ECU) features. Caterpillar® products continue to deliver more available power while delivering outstanding fuel efficiency. You can also count on long maintenance intervals and worldwide Caterpillar parts and service availability.

C280-8 Tier 4/ IMO III

C32 propulsion engine ratings of 1925 mhp (1900 bhp) 1417 bkW, 1825 mhp (1800 bhp) 1342 bkW, and 1622 mhp (1600 bhp) 1193 bkW are available with heat exchanger cooling. These ratings are compliant for U.S. EPA Tier 3 Recreational, EU Stage IIIA, and IMO II. The 1600 and 1800 bhp ratings are also meet US EPA Tier 3 Commercial Standards. The engine configuration includes an air cleaner and CCV system as well as jacket water aftercooling. Additional features include a “plug-in PTO”, an MECP I control panel, and hybrid fuel lines. The MECP I panel has a monochrome display for engine parameters, external outputs for customer installed visible and audible alarms, Start/Stop buttons, and an Off/Local/Remote switch.

C32 ACERT Tier 3

The C32 ACERT marine propulsion engine is available at ratings that meet both EPA Tier 3 and IMO II emissions regulations. It has a separate circuit aftercooling system (SCAC) for A through C ratings and a seawater aftercooling system (SWAC) for D and E ratings. The C32 ACERT has seven ratings with Wide Operating Speed Range (WOSR) and extended oil change intervals. Other benefits include proven engine operating history and performance iron with thousands of validation testing hours for quality and durability. The C32 ACERT marine engine is supported by the extensive Cat global dealer network and standard warranty.

The C32 marine propulsion engine is available at ratings that meet IMO II emissions regulations. It has a separate circuit aftercooling system (SCAC) for A through C ratings, six ratings with Wide Operating Speed Range (WOSR) and extended oil change intervals. Other benefits include proven engine operating history and performance iron with thousands of validation testing hours for quality and durability. The C32 marine engine is supported by the extensive Cat global dealer network and Caterpillar's standard warranty.

C32 Tier 3 / IMO II

Cat C32 Propulsion Engine (US EPA Tier 3 / IMO II)

C32 Tier 4 / IMO III

Cat C32 Propulsion Engine (US EPA Tier 4 / IMO III)

All new from the block up and built on the proven C32 platform, the C32B marine engine delivers more power, more speed, more time on the water and more peace of mind. All that comes in a quieter package with only a 2% increase in weight compared to the previous model — making the C32B the right choice for new builds and repowers. Rated at 2025 mhp (2000 bhp) / 1491 bkW @ 2300 rpm, the C32B meets U.S. EPA Marine Tier 3 and IMO II emissions standards. With an E Tier rating, it can run at the full 2000hp up to 8% of the time.

With the introduction of the C32B product line in 2021, Caterpillar Marine now confirms the availability of the uprated Cat® C32B Marine Propulsion engine in 2025 mhp and 2433 mhp offerings. With 25% more peak power and high performance, this engine demonstrates great performance and efficiency, while also delivering noise reduction at lower engine speeds. This product meets IMO II and U.S. EPA Tier 3 (recreational) emissions standards and is perfectly suited for yachting applications. Governmental applications can also be a great fit for D-tier ratings. Please consult with your Cat Marine dealer regarding the use of E-tier ratings.

Download Marine Power SoLUTIONS Guide

®  MARINE GENERATORS: QUALITY. RELIABILITY.">CAT ®  MARINE GENERATORS: QUALITY. RELIABILITY.

Marine Generator Sets

Cat marine generator sets are built to provide dependable, efficient service under extreme conditions. Our marine diesel generators combine proven designs and manufacturing methods with the latest technology, such as advanced control, to deliver more power and greater efficiency, while offering enhanced monitoring.

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PRODUCT SUPPORT

Explore Product Support

We provide world-class product support at Caterpillar and sell quality marine engines and power solutions. No matter where your vessels operate, you can count on our dealers' expertise to keep your machine running productively and profitably. Find what you need to ensure your ship operates at peak performance.

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Deliver long-lasting performance and tackle challenges on the go with Caterpillar - built trough solutions.

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STAY CONNECTED TO MARINE WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Marine blog.

Dive into the Cat® Marine Blog Beyond the Iron and explore posts about innovative products and solutions, industry trends, maintenance tips, upcoming trade shows, and more.

Marine Case Studies

Read one of the case studies below to learn first-hand from our customers why they choose Cat® Marine to power their operations when they are out on the water.

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Stay current on the latest Marine engine stories and announcements.

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