Wartsila and Zhenjiang sign licence agreement

Wartsila and Zhenjiang CME Co Ltd (CME) have today jointly signed a licence agreement for the manufacture and sale of Wartsila RT-flex low-speed marine diesel engines by CME in China.

The agreement grants CME the right to manufacture all sizes of Wartsila RT-flex modern low-speed engine types at its new factory in Zhenjiang. However, CME will focus on engines of 50 cm cylinder bore and smaller. The main attraction of the new licence agreement for CME is the Wartsila RT-flex engines with common-rail technology. This is the latest technology for low-speed diesel engines incorporating full electronic control of engine processes.

The new manufacturing capacity of CME will make a significant contribution to the delivery of Wartsila low-speed marine engines to the rapidly growing shipbuilding industry in China.

The agreement was signed by Mr Yang Jia Feng, General Manager of CME, and Mr Martin Wernli, President of Wartsila in Switzerland, during the Wartsila Chinese Licence Conference held in the Lijiang in northwestern Yunnan province.

The new agreement with Wartsila is a welcome development for CME as it makes it possible for our company to deliver today's most advanced low-speed diesel engines to our shipyard customers. It will keep CME at the forefront of marine equipment suppliers to the Chinese shipbuilding industry, said Mr Yang Jia Feng.

"Wartsila already has a business partnership with CME in the manufacture of propellers and it is a pleasure to be able to develop this partnership further and to increase the manufacturing volume for smaller Wartsila common-rail low-speed engines. We look forward to a long-lasting fruitful partnership", said Mr Martin Wernli.

The new licensee is located at Zhenjiang in Jiangsu Province up the Yangtze River from Shanghai. CME, as a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), has been manufacturing four-stroke engines from another designer for many years, and is building a new factory on a 250,000 m2 site at Zhenjiang for the manufacture of low-speed engines. The first engines are planned to be completed in the second half of 2009. The new factory will have an initial capacity to build engines with an aggregate output of about 300,000 bhp (220 MW), later increasing to one million brake horsepower (735 MW).

Support for the manufacture of Wartsila low-speed engines will be provided by Wartsila's Switzerland company, which is the group's centre of excellence for the design, development, research, marketing, licensing, servicing and support of Wartsila low-speed engines.

Source: Transportweekly