TIM eMagazine Vol.2 Issue 3
F
RIEDRICHSHAFEN, GERMANY – Rolls-Royce is
to supply four 20-cylinder Series 8000 engines
from MTU to Australian shipyard Incat Tasmania.
The engines will be installed in the new high-
speed ferry to be used by the Virtu Ferries com-
pany on the Malta-Sicily service that it operates
daily throughout the year. The vessel is 110 m
in length and can accommodate 900 passengers plus crew
and 167 vehicles on 490 truck lane metres. The RoPax ferry is
set to be the largest high-speed catamaran operating in the
Mediterranean. The MTU brand is part of Rolls-Royce Power
Systems.
MTU has worked together very successfully in the past with
ship owner/operator Virtu Ferries who has several catamarans
in service on the Mediterranean and Adriatic.
Francis Portelli, Managing Director at parent company Vir-
tu Holdings Limited, said: “We already have three ferries with
MTU propulsion. These engines are light in weight, and we’re
very satisfied with them and especially with the after-sales
MTU has worked together very successfully
in the past with ship owner/operator Virtu
Ferries who has several catamarans in
service on the Mediterranean and Adriatic
support so MTU was naturally our choice for our new ferry.”
Knut Müller, head of marine and defence business at MTU,
said: “We’re delighted that Virtu Ferries has again chosen MTU,
particularly since this is the first time we’re supplying Incat
with our biggest engine – the Series 8000. Our past coopera-
tion on the delivery of Series 4000 units was very successful.”
Over 250 Series 8000 engines have been sold so far, and hav-
ing clocked up over 1.4 million operating hours in total, have
more than proven themselves in the propulsion of ferries,
yachts and naval vessels.
Besides the four 9,100-kW engines, MTU will also be deliver-
ing four 8V 2000 M51A gensets to Virtu Ferries. The new Virtu
RoPax ferry will shuttle between Malta and mainland Europe
throughout the year, and the crossing from Malta to Sicily will
take just 90 minutes at a speed of 38 knots.
The keel-laying is planned for June 2017, while the engines
are scheduled for delivery to Incat in the second half of 2018.
About Rolls-Royce Holdings plc
1.Rolls-Royce’s vision is to be the market-leader in high per-
formance power systems where our engineering expertise,
global reach and deep industry knowledge deliver outstand-
ing customer relationships and solutions. We operate across
five businesses: Civil Aerospace, Defence Aerospace, Marine,
Nuclear and Power Systems.
2.Rolls-Royce Power Systems is headquartered in Frie-
drichshafen in southern Germany and employs around
10,000 people. The product portfolio includes MTU-brand
high-speed engines and propulsion