The new exploration cruise vessel being built for Sunstone is to be equipped with Wärtsilä engines and exhaust gas cleaning systems. Credit: Wärtsilä.

Wärtsilä has won a contract from Norway’s Ulstein Design and Solutions to supply engines and exhaust gas cleaning systems for a new exploration cruise vessel.

Ulstein Design and Solutions is responsible for delivering the design and equipment package to the China Merchants Heavy Industry yard, which will oversee the construction of the vessel in Jiangsu, China.

The 104m-long vessel will be owned by US-based company Sunstone Ships once completed.

"The Wärtsilä 20 engine is a very good product fit for this vessel, while the NOR system is optimised and validated for all our medium-speed engines."

The deal will involve the delivery of two 6-cylinder Wärtsilä 20 engines featuring the company’s NOx Reducer (NOR) exhaust gas cleaning system, as well as two 8-cylinder Wärtsilä 20 engines.

Wärtsilä’s NOR is based on Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology and complies with several Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) emission reduction requirements, including the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) Tier III rules.

The Wärtsilä equipment is scheduled for dellivery by January next year, while the ship is set to begin operations by September 2019.

Wärtsilä Norway Sales director Cato Esperø said: “The Wärtsilä 20 engine is a very good product fit for this vessel, while the NOR system is optimised and validated for all our medium-speed engines in terms of reliability, flexibility and size.”

The company was also recently awarded a deal to provide the engines, navigation system and various other products and systems for a new luxury, environmentally friendly ferry being built for Finnish ship operator Viking Line as part of a separate development.