The company admits that it has not sold a large number of engines into Japan or Korea, but attributes this in part to the types of vessels that were being built by many Japanese/Korean yards, specifically large bulk carriers and tankers requiring two-stroke engines. Supplying four-stroke engines for use as auxiliary gensets tended therefore to be relatively insignificant in the context of a contract for the supply of electrical systems and therefore four-stroke engines were often procured locally. It being difficult to compete, MaK/Caterpillar tended to focus its activities on other markets. However, the involvement of Japanese and Korean yards in producing a wider range of vessels does now present Caterpillar Motoren with some interesting opportunities. The first of these opportunities has been realised with Caterpillar Motoren's success in supplying engines to Hyundai for a cable layer it is building.
By type of vessel, the company says it is achieving particularly high levels of success in respect of Ro-Ro vessels, ferries, container ships and specialist vessels, such as cable layers. In contrast it does not supply fishing vessels and tugs in great numbers, partly because of their lower levels of engine utilisation making MaK engines somewhat over-specified, although some of the Caterpillar engines produced in the USA are suitable for these sorts of applications.
1.5 Investment Policy
Caterpillar Motoren has already invested around DM100 million (Yen 4,900 million) in upgrading its factories in Kiel and Rostock. Much of the investment in Kiel is going on developing high technology flexible working centres, in order to increase efficiency and improve productivity.
1.6 Market Development
Now that MaK is part of Caterpillar it can benefit from the group's infrastructure and its other activities. For example, Caterpillar is a major producer of natural gas engines, and there is the potential to transfer this technology to the engine development programme in Kiel.
A lot of work is being carried out to reduce emissions. In this matter the USA is said to be one of the toughest regulators in the world and suppliers have therefore been operating to much stricter standards than elsewhere for many years. Caterpillar Motoren believes that it will be able to benefit from the experience of other group companies in seeking to further reduce emissions from its marine engines. In particular, Caterpillar's expertise in computer modelling (of combustion chambers etc.) could be exploited through its US-based staff, with physical testing carried out in Germany. In respect of medium-speed engines, Caterpillar is moving towards establishing Kiel as a centre of excellence for design and technology.
