Rolls Signs 10-year Service Agreement For Tug Fleet

Rolls-Royce has signed a 10-year service agreement with global towage and marine services operator Svitzer A/S that covers spare parts deliveries in six countries for a fleet of 17 tugs powered by MTU-brand Series 4000 engines.

In the agreement, the cost of maintenance services is being tied to engine up-time. This is the first maintenance contract of its kind to be signed by Svitzer.

The Danish company Svitzer currently operates 17 vessels with MTU Series 4000 units on board. Among them are the world’s first harbor tugs with 90 tons bollard pull powered by high-speed diesel engines. These have been in service in the Tanger-Med cargo port in Morocco since 2018. Other vessels are deployed in Brazil, Costa-Rica, Denmark, Great Britain and Germany. Also included in the fleet is the tug Svitzer Hermod, the first commercial vessel to demonstrate remote operation, which is likewise powered by twin MTU 16V4000 M63 diesel units. As part of the agreement, the Rolls-Royce business unit Power Systems will ensure that the right spare parts for a vessel are made ready in the right place at the right time for each scheduled maintenance. This approach will allow Svitzer to have focus on efficiency in the technical management and operation of the vessels in scope, while spare parts planning, scheduling and deliveries are handled by Rolls-Royce.

“We are highly satisfied with the performance of the MTU engines in our day-to-day operation and with our cooperation with Rolls-Royce since 2016. The global frame agreement provides the basis for long-term collaboration and it will enable us to further optimize our vessel running costs while maintaining a smooth and reliable operation at the same time,” said Kasper Gottlieb, head of Global Procurement at Svitzer.
“We are delighted that Svitzer has chosen to step up cooperation with us as their trusted partner,” said Denise Kurtulus, director Global Marine Business at Rolls-Royce. “This new agreement provides us with a basis for intensifying our work together on other technologies such as hybrids and gas engines, as well as on digital services for real-time monitoring of operation.”

By enabling technical data to be captured and processed on an ongoing basis, digitalization has opened up a number of new possibilities in the field of proactive maintenance management. These are being realized already by Rolls-Royce as part of Customer Service 4.0, with new digital products such as MTU-Go!Act and MTU-Go!Manage providing solution strategies especially suited to the needs of fleet operators, among others.