Rolls-Royce has equipped another vessel of UK shipping company Wightlink with an mtu NautIQ Core Alarm & Monitoring System (AMS), based on Servowatch technology. Servowatch is the supplier of integrated marine automation solutions which Rolls-Royce acquired in December 2020.
Rolls-Royce replaced the ageing legacy system on Wightlink’s Roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry St Faith to adapt the ship automation to the current requirements. St Faith is the third largest vessel in Wightlink’s fleet and was built in 1990. It operates on the route between Portsmouth and Fishbourne (Isle of Wight). Wightlink operates two more vessels with Servowatch systems, the high-speed passenger catamarans Wight Ryder I and Wight Ryder II.
Customized solution marks new era
“This project marks a new era in our relationship. The upgrade has future-proofed the ferry well beyond the vessel’s 5-year extended lifetime program and working with Grundon Marine Ltd, our sales and service partner in UK, again demonstrates our ability to serve customers successfully”, says Andrew Burns, Director for Sales and Marketing at Servowatch.
Rolls-Royce designed, built, and commissioned a custom fitted replacement AMS and Grundon Marine removed the old system and installed the new mtu NautIQ Core system. Everything was completed on time and in budget. This allowed the vessel to return to operational service between Portsmouth and Fishbourne as scheduled. This life-extending upgrade will ensure the vessel has minimal complications, ease of operation and supportability for many years to come. Functionality and features of the system installed on St Faith include local intelligent remote terminal units, graphical operator workstation and a remote alarm interrogation display panel all built to meet Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) requirements.
