Finnish company donates $500K ship engine to Texas A&M Galveston Massive 27-ton engine will be used as learning lab

GALVESTON – A company based in Finland had donated a $500,000 ship engine to the Maritime Academy at Texas A&M University Galveston, the university said this week.

The 27-ton engine, the size of a school bus, will be used to teach students engine repair and about emissions and fuel economy as they work to obtain maritime licenses that will allow them to operate ships in oceans around the world.

The engine was donated by Wartsila, a $5.3 billion Helsinki-based company specializing in building marine engines and generators, oil and gas equipment, and conventional solar power plants.

"They learn the basics of the engine and how to do various repairs that they very well might need one day at sea," said Ed Clancy, professor of marine engineering and head of the marine engineering technology department. "It's not a mock-up – it 's a real 2,000-horsepower engine that can be found in tugs and ferry boats, just the kind of equipment our students will be working on once they graduate."