WinGD, Mitsui sign agreement for marine engine production

Swiss marine power company WinGD has announced an agreement with Mitsui E&S Diesel United (MESDU), part of the Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding group, to build WinGD engines at the MESDU Tamano works factory, expanding its Japanese engine building network. The agreement will add considerable engine capacity and enable the company to meet growing demand in a leading shipbuilding market, the announcement stated.

(L-R) Dominik Schneiter (left), CEO, WinGD and Hiroyuki Takumi (right), President, MESDU, sign the engine production agreement. (Photo: WinGD)

WinGD has seen recent notable engine and system integration orders in Japan for LNG-hybrid vessel series for NYK Line and K Line. Long-term collaborations with Japanese companies have also proven to be a core element of the technology development process. For example, the new Variable Compression Ratio (VCR) technology, which allows dual-fuel engines to dynamically optimize combustion for each fuel, was the result of more than a decade of co-development with MESDU and its forerunner Diesel United, WinGD noted.

Prior to this point, engines had been built solely at WinGD’s Aioi Factory, which was acquired from IHI Group when the Diesel United business was sold to Mitsui E&S earlier this year. The new agreement, which complements an earlier cooperation agreement signed with Diesel United in 2015, means that the engines can now be built at both the Aioi and Tamano factories.

In addition to the existing diesel-fueled X-Engines and LNG dual-fuel X-DF engines, the Tamano factory will be dedicated to production of WinGD X-DF-A ammonia-fueled and X-DF-M methanol-fueled engines, which will be available for delivery from Q1 2025.

Rudolf Holtbecker, WinGD director of operations, sees this expansion of its collaboration with MESDU in Japan as a natural step to address changing vessel specifications from Japanese shipyards. “As new designs emerge for vessels using alternative fuels, including methanol and ammonia as well as cutting edge LNG and hybrid technologies, MESDU will now be ready to fulfill the increased demand for domestically built WinGD engines,” he said.

“This agreement gives Mitsui E&S even more capacity to offer shipyards and shipowners the quality main engines that will power future generations of sustainable vessels,” said MESDU President Hiroyuki Takumi. “We are happy to be able to deliver on WinGD’s efficient and reliable engine designs to support even more Japanese vessels through the energy transition.”