Wärtsilä expands maintenance scope for LNG-fueled Viking Grace

Finnish technology group Wärtsilä secured a maintenance deal with the compatriot Viking Line for its LNGPac system onboard passenger ferry Viking Grace.

This is the first optimized maintenance agreement ever made for Wärtsilä LNGPac, a gas handling system for ships fuelled by liquefied natural gas (LNG), Wärtsilä said in its statement on Thursday.

The agreement also includes condition-based maintenance (CBM) and online support for the Wärtsilä LNGPac system. Additionally, Wärtsilä extends its existing optimized maintenance agreement for Viking Line’s Viking Grace ferry for another five years.

The optimized maintenance agreement, signed in late 2017, enables the planning and scheduling of Viking Grace’s maintenance procedures.

A new feature for the LNGPac agreement is Wärtsilä’s condition-based maintenance system that gathers information on the average gas flow, the temperatures of the heat exchangers, the use of energy, and the pressure of the LNG pumps. The data helps in planning and scheduling the above-mentioned maintenance procedures that improve cost predictability and uptime.

Wärtsilä LNGPac on Viking Grace, the first passenger ferry to utilize LNG as fuel, comprises onboard liquid natural gas bunkering, two storage tanks, and handling equipment with related safety and automation systems.

Viking Grace can accommodate 2,800 passengers, and it sails between Turku, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden in the Baltic Sea.