Chinese-built Viking Line cruise ferry orders ABB Azipod propulsion

ABB is to provide its Azipod propulsion system for a new Viking Line cruise ferry to be built in China. The order represents the first installation of Azipod propulsion in a cruise-ferry application. The vessel is to be built by Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry. The additional scope of ABB’s supply includes electrical power generation and distribution systems, and bow thruster motors. Scheduled for delivery in 2020, the 13-deck, 63,000 gross ton, 2,800-passenger capacity ship will connect the Finnish port of Turku, the Åland Islands and Stockholm in Sweden Sweden. According to Viking Line, Azipod electrical propulsion is well suited to the high efficiency and fast turnaround required to navigate the archipelago between Finland and Sweden. Like its European-built predecessor Viking Grace, the new cruise ferry will feature LNG engines. However, although the earlier Viking Line ship includes conventional shaftline propulsion technology, the latest contract calls for the first installation in a cruise-ferry application of twin XO 2100-type Azipod propulsion. Much like the Azipod XO units, which are designed and built in Helsinki, Finland, the majority of the marine equipment on board the new vessel will be sourced in Northern Europe. “Our expectation for this vessel is that it will be the most efficient cruise ferry operating in the Baltic, if not the world, and our choice of ABB is based on our experience of them as a reliable, innovative supply partner with the knowledge and understanding to run major projects in Finland and locally with shipbuilders,” said Jan Hanses, president and CEO, Viking Line.