ABB Wins Landmark Azipod Order

(c) ABB

ABB announced today a $180 million order to deliver complete electrical power plants and Azipod XO propulsion systems for six new cruise liners.  With this latest deal, ABB notes this is their best-ever year within the cruise liner sector.

“Since the launch of the Azipod XO, nearly all of the ships ordered will be equipped with this new generation unit,” notes Veli-Matti Reinikkala, head of ABB’s Process Automation division.

ABB says the six ships to be outfitted include two for Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), two for Royal Caribbean International and one each for Holland America Line and Carnival Cruise Lines.

Click Here for an Inside Look at the ABB Azipod

Order details, via ABB

The two ships for NCL are Breakaway Plus-class vessels and include complete electrical systems, each with two Azipod XO propulsion units and three bow thrusters. Each has 163,000 gross tonnage (gt) with capacity for 4,200 passengers and are due for delivery from German shipyard Meyer Werft GmbH in October 2015 and spring 2017 respectively. ABB will supply Azipod XO units with combined propulsion power of almost 40 MW, plus generators, transformers, frequency converters and related power system equipment. The installation includes ABB’s new “Intelligent Maneuvering Interface” (IMI), which is equipped with the ‘red dot’ design award-winning ABB Azimuth lever and the Azipod Dynamic Optimizing system which can enable fuel savings of up to two percent.

The ships for the Holland America Line and Carnival Cruise Lines are under construction at Fincantieri yards in Italy. For the former, ABB will supply the complete electrical power plant and propulsion system, with 28 MW of power, for a 99,500 gt, 2,660-passenger capacity liner, due for delivery at the start of 2016. The latter liner, 133,500 gt, 4,000-passenger capacity, named Carnival Vista, will feature ABB power plant and propulsion systems, augmented by generators, main switchboards, a remote control system and distribution transformers.

One of the liners for Royal Caribbean International is the Oasis 3, due for delivery from STX France in the second quarter of 2016, equipped with three 20 MW Azipod XO units from ABB. The 225,282 gt, 5,400 passenger-capacity ship will also be equipped with ABB propulsion transformers, propulsion drives and remote control systems. The other, being built by Meyer Werft GmbH, will feature two 20,5 MW Azipod XO propulsion systems as well as generators, main switchboard, a remote control system, bow thruster motors and set of transformers. The ship will be delivered in April 2016.

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