Rolls-Royce signs deal to supply engines to seabed mining vessel

LONDON, March 25 (Reuters) - British engineering company Rolls-Royce said it signed a deal to supply six engines to a seabed mining vessel being built to extract copper, gold and silver off the coast of Papua New Guinea.

The company said on Wednesday that the ship would be powered by its new B33:45 medium-speed diesel generator sets, and the deal represented its first multiple order for that engine.

The new marine engine contract follows a difficult period for Rolls-Royce, which last year downgraded profit forecasts, as customers delayed orders due to the low oil price and wider economic uncertainty.

The firm said the ship, being built at China's Fuijan Mawei shipyard for Dubai's Marine Assets Corporation (MAC), was the world's first seabed mining vessel and would work in water depths of 1,600 metres. (Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by James Davey)