New Ship Engines Are Bigger and Better

Boat engines are now being made to deliver ever increasing quantities of power while the cargo capacity of boats continues to increase. There are now ships that carry ten-thousand containers, and even bigger vessels are in the works. Increasing costs for fuel have prompted businesses to research new techniques for engine design including gas turbines as well as various hybrids. For now, diesel power remains the workhouse of contemporary marine engine technology. Currently the strongest diesel is created by the Swiss company Wartsila Sutzer, which might look strange given that country’s landlocked geography. Their RTA 96-C motor is a two-stroke, turbocharged engine which comes in a myriad of configurations ranging from 6 to 14 cylinders. The 14 cylinder model is 88 feet long and 44 feet tall. The behemoth weighs in at 2300 tons and may create about 109,000 horsepower running at 102 rpm’s. Each cylinder can produce 7780 hp. The thermal efficiency of this creature motor is rated at over 50%, the first such engine to reach such a high level. This means over half the power within the diesel fuel used is being changed into motive power. Single-engine boats are the preferred method for propulsion of even the greatest vessels, and the 14 cylinder format can simply propel the latest Post Panamax ship. That name refers to the undeniable fact that these ships are too big to put in the Panama Canal even following the enlargement of the venerable transit system between oceans. The brand new lock method of the Panama Canal will allow vessels transporting over 7, 000 containers to move between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The low rpm rate of big ship engines makes them incredibly durable as there is less wear because of the slow motor speed. Also, they are fairly fuel-efficient. Hybrid designs assure even greater efficiencies and fuel savings, but for now their higher prices and complexity have restricted their use to cruise ships and some naval vessels where expenses are less of a concern.