Students from the State University of New York Maritime College's 565’ training ship Empire State VI were hosted by Wärtsilä during a June port call in Trieste,Italy, where the crew and faculty got a close view of Wärtsilä’s manufacturing facility and its liquefied natural gas dual-fuel engine technologies.
The Wärtsilä management team welcomed nearly 600 visitors from SUNY Maritime, including cadets on their summer sea term, faculty and college president Rear Adm. Michael Alfultis. SUNY Maritime was hosted on a similar trip in Trieste during 2013, and Wärtsilä and college leadership again coordinated an agenda for cadets to learn firsthand how the factory is managed.
Technical presentations highlighted dual-fuel technologies, Wärtsilä fuel gas handling solutions, its LNGPac systems, and Wärtsilä technical support team activities. A guided tour for the 100 students from the Empire State VI offered the group an up-close view of the various stages involved in assembling a Wärtsilä engine. Most engineering cadets on the tour had earlier completed a medium-speed diesel engine course, and had experience in performing maintenance work on a diesel engine, enabled in part by the donation of a Wärtsilä 26 engine to the university in 2011 for its campus laboratory in New York City.
“Over the years, Wärtsilä has been a generous and committed partner in giving SUNY Maritime students the hands-on training and applied learning opportunities that they will need as they enter the maritime industry,” Alfultis said in a statement. “Our cadets always enjoy Trieste and the chance to visit Wärtsilä and I was delighted to experience it with them.”
“Wärtsilä is committed to supporting the future well-being of the maritime industry through encouraging and helping to educate its future leaders. This visit of the SUNY Maritime cadets has, therefore, been a pleasure for us to arrange. We wish the students every success in their future careers,” said Aaron Bresnahah, managing director of Wärtsilä North America Inc.
Alfultis and SUNY Maritime reciprocated by hosting the Wärtsilä Italy management team and others from the local office aboard the Empire State VI, including a tour of the steamship that serves as a floating laboratory during the school year in New York when it is not at sea for the summer term. The ship and crew will return to the Fort Schuyler campus in early August for the start of the 2016-2017 academic year.
