Caterpillar Marine Engines story

With an exceptional worldwide reputation for their endurance, reliability and high-quality engineering, Caterpillar Marine Engines are perhaps the number one choice in marine propulsion. Their main engines range in capacity from 250 to 21,475 bhp and auxiliary engines from 253 to 7,268 bhp meaning they can be coupled with your choice of vessel from workboats and trawlers to pleasure yachts.

CAT brings over 75 years experience to the engineering of their designs and use only the most advanced materials in the development of all their applications. A leader in the field of marine propulsion, CAT’s engines are in use in a wide variety of vessels including:

• Pleasure craft such as mega-yachts, sports fishing boats and production yachts; • Commercial boats such as government vessels, ferries and fishing boats; • Ocean going vessels such as tankers, cruisers and container feeders.

Using CAT’s patented ACERT® combustion technology, the combustion process has been engineered using advanced precision techniques to achieve lower combustion temperatures. This in turn maximises the performance of each engine whilst significantly reducing the emissions. The result means that CAT can offer some of the lowest operating costs and fuel efficiency in marine motoring as well as compliance with EU, IMO and US EPA emissions standards.

Much of the significant developments in marine engine technology has been pioneered by CAT over the last forty years and it is this experience which makes a Caterpillar Marine Engine such a top quality choice. The company doesn’t compromise on their design objectives to bring the most advanced science to their customers at the best price.

The company’s marine propulsion systems are the first option for many boat owners and it is rare to find a boat which doesn’t have one of their engines. The Republic of Korea chose Caterpillar to power 16 of their navy’s patrol boats as the only company whose exacting standards met their own!

The company has five dealers in the United Kingdom (four in England and one in Northern Ireland) meaning servicing and spares are readily available in this country as well as worldwide. Each dealer in the network employs specialist engineers to be able to meet all commissioning, maintenance and upgrading requirements.

In addition there are a number of suppliers who can source genuine CAT parts including Marship, AUTOMAR.

The range of engines is accompanied by specifically designed control systems and display instrumentation offering precision handling and monitoring of the power delivered from the propulsion. In addition, systems such as the gplink, which allows for real-time monitoring of the engines performance, provides customers with the back-up of trained engineers to respond to alarms, faults and run diagnostics remotely. Such technology not only provides reassurance but can also prevent costly visits as much of the work can be done without any call-out fees.

To help with engine selection, Caterpillar has produced a full colour, 120 page guide which can be downloaded as a pdf from their website. The guide covers CAT’s marine propulsion engines, generator sets, auxillary engines and attendant controls and panels as well as the MaK marine propulsion engines and generator sets. Projects of any size and design are tailored for and they offer a bespoke service if your requirements fall outside of their standard offerings.

Ultimately the strength of CAT’s engines is down to their understanding of how important engine uptime is for any commercial vessel and for pleasure craft.