Rolls-Royce, the global power systems company, has delivered 13 large azimuth thrusters to the world’s largest construction vessel, currently being built at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, South Korea for Swiss ship owner and operator Allseas Group. The contract is worth around £18 million and is the largest ever Rolls-Royce thruster order for a single vessel.

The thrusters rotate 360 degrees and propel and position the ship, which measures 382 metres in length and 117 metres in width. Named Pieter Schelte, the ship is due to enter into service in 2014 and will carry out installation and decommissioning of oil and gas platforms and pipeline installation projects worldwide.

Kari Välimaa, Rolls-Royce, Operations Director- Finland, said: “We are delighted to deliver our largest ever thruster order to power this record-breaking vessel. This vessel is massive, and the load that it is intended to carry will be equally hefty. Rolls-Royce azimuth thrusters are the ideal solution for the work this ship will undertake due to their reliability and high performance, which are business critical for the offshore industry.”

The Pieter Schelte features a unique design concept with a displacement at full load of nearly 900,000 tonnes. It is capable of lifting 48,000 tonnes and the pipelay tension capacity will be 2,000 tonnes, doubling the capacity of the world’s current largest pipelay vessel, Allseas’ Solitaire.