Scania powers RNLI’s new rescue vessels

Royal National Lifeboat Institution has chosen Scania engines for their new rescue vessels. Each vessel will be powered by two of Scania’s new 13-litre marine engines, first shown at the Seawork exhibition in Southampton in June 2011.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is building new vessels for search and rescue activities around the coast of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. The vessel’s designation is FCB2, Fast Carriage Boat 2. After operational acceptance FCB2 will be named the Shannon class – the first RNLI all-weather lifeboat to be named after an Irish river.

Each vessel will be powered by two Scania 13-litre marine engines, each rated at 650 hp. Yet another national sea-rescue society has thus chosen Scania engines for their vessels – Scania also provides engines for a number of societies all over the world, for example to Sweden, Finland and China.

“RNLI and Scania (Great Britain) Ltd worked closely together to find the best possible solution for their new life-saving vessels,” says Mikael Lindner, Sales Director, Scania Marine Engines. “The choice fell on Scania’s new 13-litre marine engine (in combination with Twin Disc transmission and Hamilton waterjet units) to provide the RNLI with the best possible reliability and operating economy for years to come.”

“Scania brought their knowledge about marine engines to this project,” says Chris Eves, FCB2 Project Manager, RNLI. “We will be ready for sea trials this December and it will be interesting to see how the new 13-litre engines perform in our prototype vessel.”

Prototype engines were delivered early this year for the first vessel; serial deliveries will start in mid-2012. The RNLI are planning to build 50 vessels during the coming 10 years, dependent on operational requirements. The FCB2 vessels are beach-launched all-weather lifeboats and the Supacat specialist launch and recovery tractor is powered by the new Scania 13-litre industrial engine.

At the Seawork exhibition, Scania will showcase its new 13-litre engine, a 16-litre engine with transmission, as well as the new instrumentation, type-approved by all major classification societies such as RINA, DNV, Germanischer Lloyd, etc.

RNLI was founded in 1824 and has since saved more than 139,000 lives at sea. As a registered charity with volunteer crews, it receives no money from government with all income being provided entirely by voluntary donations.

The Seawork Exhibition is an annual international workboat show held at the ABP Port of Southampton, UK. Seawork opens on Tuesday 14 June, 2011. Scania is located at quayside, stand no Q11.

For more information about Scania at Seawork, please visit www.scania.com/media/seawork

Scania is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of trucks, buses, industrial and marine engines with an excellent reputation and highly loyal customers. Every year Scania builds more than 80,000 engines on it modular 5-, 6- and 8-cylinder platform, which makes Scania one of the most experienced manufacturers in the world. Around the world, in many different conditions, Scania engines are found in truck, bus, industrial and marine applications, as well as in power generation.

For further information contact:
- Mikael Lindner, Sales Director Marine Engines,
  tel. +46 8 55350869, mob. +46 70 5730869, e-mail mikael.lindner@scania.com
- Ian Cooper, Scania (Great Britain) Ltd, Sales Director, Engines
  tel +44 7 836638659, e-mail ian.cooper@scania.com
- Ann-Helen Tolleman, Corporate Relations, Scania
  tel. +46 70 7781360, e-mail ann-helen.tolleman@scania.com

Scania is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications, and of industrial and marine engines. Service-related products is a growing proportion of the company’s operations, assuring Scania customers of cost-effective transport solutions and maximum uptime. Scania also provides financial services. Employing some 35,500 people, Scania operates in about 100 countries. Research and development activities are concentrated in Sweden, while production takes place in Europe and South America, with facilities for global interchange of both components and complete vehicles. In 2010, net sales totalled SEK 78 billion and net income amounted to SEK 9.1 billion. Scania press releases are available on www.scania.com

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