Four 7500 TEU Post-Panamax container liners recently contracted by Blue Star Reederei with the Japanese group IHI Marine United will each be propelled by a 12-cylinder Sulzer RT-flex96C engine of 68,640 kW. The engines will be built under licence from Wärtsilä by Diesel United in Aioi (Japan). These are the most powerful diesel engines so far announced to have electronically controlled common-rail fuel injection.

Developed by Wärtsilä Corporation, Sulzer RT-flex engines are the first low-speed engines to have electronically controlled common-rail systems for fuel injection and valve actuation. This offers substantial flexibility in the way the engines operate, to deliver benefits such as smokeless operation at all operating speeds, much lower steady running speeds (useful for canal passages and harbour approaches), reduced maintenance requirements, greater reliability, and reducedlower fuel consumption. The first ship is due for delivery towards the end of 2004, and subsequent ships are planned for delivery in 2005.