(BURLINGTON, Ontario) — Thordon Bearing’s COMPAC seawater-lubricated propeller shaft bearing system has been nominated in the Auxiliary Machinery category of the European Marine Engineering Awards, which will take place in Amsterdam next month.
“The polymer we use in our COMPAC system is quite different from other material technology opted for in seawater-lubricated bearing systems,” said Craig Carter, Thordon Bearings’ head of marketing and customer service. “Other bearing materials tend to have a life span of between five and seven years before they need replacing, but our engineers have produced a polymer allowing us to offer a guaranteed bearing wear-life of 15 years. And current vessels using COMPAC are seeing even longer wear life.”
Last year Thordon Bearings’ COMPAC seawater-lubricated propeller shaft bearing systems were ordered for a number of significant commercial vessels. These included the two largest Jones Act containerships to be built, the 3,600-TEU vessels for Matson Navigation; the 38,700-dwt Green Dolphin bulk carrier Revelin for Atlantska Plovidba; and JT Cement’s Greenland, the world’s first LNG-fueled dry bulk ship.
Other nominees for Riviera Maritime Media’s European Marine Engineering Awards include ABB’s Azipod D and Wartsila’s Sternguard seal. Nominees had to demonstrate a technological development that improves a vessel’s operational efficiency or reduces risk to personnel.