Growing popularity for Scania engines in Australia

Scania is seeing a significant increase in its sales of marine engines, thanks partly to their growing popularity with Australian fishermen

At a time when sales of Scania engines are doing well across the board – industrial, power generation and marine – one particular development stands out.

A recent uptick in the sales of Scania marine engines can be partly explained by their growing popularity with professional fishermen in Australia. And it’s the Scania 1,000 hp V8 16.4-litre engine that seems in particular to be making waves.

The importance of power and fuel efficiency
According to the latest statistics available from Australia’s Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, the country’s fishing and aquaculture production had a value of just over 3 billion Australian Dollars (ASD) a year in 2015/16. For many coastal communities across the nation it’s a key part of their livelihood, though the industry is faced with more and more cheaper imports from competing markets in Asia.

It’s fierce competition like that, coupled with the big waves that surround Australian shores, that make an engine’s fuel consumption and power all-important to fishermen. And the 16.4-litre engine ticks those boxes.

The engine’s new common rail engine technology provides quietness and better fuel efficiency because it offers pre-injection, main injection and post-injection in every firing cycle. And with 1,000 hp, power is central to its performance.

A happy Scania customer
One happy customer is Barry Williams, who operates a crayfish boat out of Port MacDonnell, South Australia, a place that was once a busy shipping port, but which now relies on summer tourism and its commercial fishermen who seek the ‘gold of the ocean’.

Williams has a new 61-foot (18.6 metre) Shoreline-built vessel called BroJak, named after his sons Brodie and Jack. With 30 years of experience, he knows what makes for a great fishing boat, and the Scania V8 16.4-litre engine is at the core of it.

“It is the boat I always wanted to build. It’s bigger and more powerful than anything I have had before. It will give me the range to go further in a day, to widen the area within which we can fish,” he explains.

The engine’s injection system, assisted by a successful installation in the hull, provides a smooth power delivery and the boat is very stable in the water, with plenty of power for getting through the breakers of the Southern Ocean.

Fisherman Williams is certainly happy. “The engine really bites,” he says.