Wärtsilä, a global provider of solutions and services for the marine industry has received service level recognition for its Propulsion Condition Monitoring Service (PCMS) by DNV-GL.
The company attained this recognition from three classification societies; the American Bureau of Shipping, Lloyd’s Register, and DNV-GL. Classification societies are non-governmental organisations that create and maintain technical standards for building and operation of ships and offshore structures.
Wärtsilä’s approval which came in February 2014 implies that surveyors from the classification societies may rely on Wärtsilä’s PCMS when conducting assessments of propulsion equipment. This invalidates the mandatory five-year internal inspection, which often requires dry-docking. With the PCMS continuously monitoring the equipment, major overhauls of thrusters can be done at intervals of five to 10 years, depending on the condition of the propulsion equipment.
Being the first company to attain this type of recognition from three of the major classification societies, Wärtsilä is optimistic that its condition and performance monitoring services are a prerequisite to customer support in the future as well as a logical complement to its service agreements business. PCMS increases the reliability and availability of monitored equipment and reduces overall lifecycle costs.
“Financially this will have a big efficiency impact on the operations of marine customers. PCMS enables condition based maintenance and eliminates the need to perform an overhaul simultaneously with the compulsory five year inspections, unless of course, PCMS shows there is a need for it. Prior to attaining this service level recognition, approvals could only be given on a vessel by vessel basis. With the service level recognition, this will become much easier,” said Frank Velthuis, manager of Wärtsilä’s CBM Centre Propulsion.
Wärtsilä’s service & support business has broad industry offerings, with a network of service and repair facilities operating in more than 160 locations in 70 countries.
