HHI Breaks Ground on Wartsila-Hyundai Engines

Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has established a joint venture company with Wartsila at the Daebul National Industrial Complex in Korea. They held a ceremony celebrating the start of construction on the new Wartsila-Hyundai Engines, Ltd. (WHE) facilities.

WHE is a joint venture with both HHI and Wartsila investing KRW 34 billion. Construction of the WHE facilities will be completed by first half of 2008 and will start to produce dual-fuel electric propulsion engines for LNG carriers just after completion.
Facilities for WHE will cover 62,000㎡ and will be capable of manufacturing 100 engines annually ranging from between 5,700 KW to 17,100 KW.

WHE will produce dual-fuel electric propulsion engines that can use either gas or oil, with exports mainly to Asian shipbuilders. This engine is 30 percent more efficient and more environmentally friendly than steam turbine engines, the traditional LNG carrier engine.

With the establishment of WHE, HHI is expected to take the lead in the duel-fuel engine market. WHE will take advantage of the 80 overseas HHI and Wartsila branches to provide improved services to customers.