Wärtsilä folds Voyage business into Power division

The decision also sees the replacement of Wärtsilä Voyage president Sean Fernback with Wärtsilä Marine Power vice president Hannu Mäntymaa. Mr Mäntymaa will lead the integration of the two divisions and will take an interim seat on Wärtsilä’s board of directors. 

"Mr Mäntymaa will then continue as the head of the future Voyage business unit as the integrated organisation becomes effective as of 1 January 2023. With the same starting date, the financial figures of the Voyage business unit will be consolidated into Marine Power financials," Wärtsilä said.

Effectively, merging the two divisions will add the digital spheres of vessel operations optimisation and port traffic management software as well as performance-based services for port-to-port operations to the Wärtsilä Marine Power division’s bottom line.

As recently as early September, Wärtsilä Voyage announced a new initiative, launching a floating research and development (R&D) testbed vessel to field-test software in conditions that approximate real-world scenarios at sea.

Ahti will serve as a platform to test Wärtsilä Voyage’s own technologies and those belonging to the company’s technology partners. Trials will be conducted in changeable real-life sea conditions which can be difficult and costly to recreate in a laboratory environment. 

Wärtsilä Voyage said creating a floating R&D facility helps cut down the cost and time barriers associated with real-life tests, returning meaningful results on a much lower risk and cost base than going into full-scale testing directly. The ship also creates a first-party resource where customers and technology partners can collaborate.

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