Heesen’s biggest ever steel displacement yacht due in 2021

Heesen’s largest ever steel displacement yacht is currently in build and due for launch in 2021. Hull and superstructure were joined in October last year and the interior fit-out is substantially completed.

At 60m overall, with a half-load displacement of about 800t, the yacht’s underwater lines are said to be designed on the principles of Van Oossanen’s Fast Displacement Hull Form and refined by Heesen’s in-house naval architects.

The yacht, YN 19360 Project Falcon, is powered by two MTU 4000 series engines. At their designated maximum of 1,800rpm, the 57-litre V12 M65Ls produce 1,920kW apiece, with a combined total of more than 5,000 horsepower. This allows the yacht to cruise all day at her half-load design speed of 17.5 knots – and all night too, if necessary, the yacht builder said.

With emission levels in mind, MTU’s selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system is a game changer, according to Heesen. Specifically made for the 4000 series engines for installation as an integral component of the propulsion system, SCR filters out diesel particulates and introduces a reactant into the engine’s exhaust gases to turn harmful nitrogen oxides (NOx) into nitrogen and water.

The SCR set-up used in the new yacht, Heesen said, will be the first of its kind to meets all the latest IMO Tier-III regulations. IMO Tier III regulations demand a 75% reduction in NOx emissions and a 65% drop in particulates compared with their previous iterations.

Heesen said the entire fit out of Project Falcon’s engine room, including the installation procedure for this latest model of MTU engines, followed an entirely new procedure for the firm. In collaboration with Van Riel, a Dutch company specialising in industrial transportation, the two 13.2-ton engines were slid into the hull via the beach club and carefully positioned in the engine room.