New Engine Reliability Questioned

New Engine Reliability Questioned

From Lloyd’s List (www.lloydslist.com)

European engine manufacturers have defended their quality record, saying statistics show reduced incidents of engine failure, and that any perceived problems could be due to inexperienced engineers. Following criticism from the president of the Society of Consulting Marine Engineers and Ship Surveyors, John Lillie, two key engine manufacturers have pointed out that their own statistics, as well as those from classification societies, show a drop in relative incidents in engine failures.

“I have heard this before,” said Thomas Knudsen, senior vice-president of MAN Diesel’s low-speed engines in Copenhagen. “We can see that guarantee expenses have gone down and the spare part consumption of engines are going down. That’s a clear indication of reliability,” he said.

Wärtsilä’s president of Finnish operations Juha Kytölä agreed: “New technologies and components are today tested far more in a laboratory environment than 10 years ago,” he said. “This validates products through acceptance criteria to secure quality and safety in all working conditions.”

But for both manufacturers the fact is that with the huge increase in vessel deliveries there are more engines on the market and this will naturally increase the number of incidents, even if the percentages go down. The increase in ship numbers has also had an impact on the relevant quality of engineers, the manufacturers said. They do not have the high level of experience that they had in the past, said Mr. Knudsen.