USA: BOURBON Offshore Orders CAT Engines for its Offshore Vessels

BOURBON Offshore has ordered over one hundred engines and generator sets from Caterpillar Marine Power Systems  for anchor handling tug and supply vessels currently being constructed in China.

60x Cat® 3516C diesel electric propulsion (DEP) engines will be packaged with Kato generators for twenty anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessels with eighty-ton towing capability. BOURBON has also elected to order 80x 3512C DEP engines for twenty platform supply vessels (PSV). The engines and generator sets will be delivered over the course of the next two years, with construction occurring at the Sinopacific shipyard in China.

“Caterpillar Marine Power Systems is pleased to provide BOURBON with powerful, high performance marine engines and generator sets that deliver superior results while serving as a highly customizable solution for the marine market,” said Yanko Yang, Asia Pacific Territory sales manager. “We are proud of our capability to provide flexible, design-to-order products and are delighted Bourbon has taken advantage of this unique capability.”

The 3516C DEP engines, manufactured at the Lafayette Engine Center in Lafayette, Indiana are a design-to-order standard Bureau Veritas package featuring Kato generators. Each of the twenty AHTS vessels will be equipped with 3x 3516C DEP engines, each providing 2000 ekW of rated power at 1800 rpm. The twenty PSV vessels will each feature 4x 3512C DEP engines, with each engine delivering 1360 ekW of rated power at 1800 rpm. During construction, China-based Cat dealer Lei Shing Hong Machinery will provide engineering, project management and commissioning support to the Sinopacific shipyard, which specializes in the innovative design and construction of offshore vessels.

“Lei Shing Hong is very pleased to partner with Caterpillar Marine Power Systems to deliver outstanding application and installation support to the Sinopacific shipyard and service to BOURBON Offshore vessels once they are at sea, said Hongbo, marine sales manager of Lei Shing Hong Machinery. “We’re confident in our exceptional support and service offerings and are thrilled to be involved in this very significant project.”

Upon completion of construction, the Cat engines will power the AHTS and PSV vessels around the globe as they help position offshore drilling platforms. The tugs can travel to the most remote platforms with the confidence that convenient product support is never far away due to the 2,100 dealer locations in the global Cat dealer network.

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Offshore Energy Today Staff, December 1, 2011; Image: Caterpillar