CCGS Terry Fox, one the largest icebreakers in the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) fleet, has returned to service with new Thordon propeller shaft bearings after concluding that fitting laminate phenolic bearings would extend dry dock time and costs. The 88m (289ft) long vessel, built in the 1980s had been operating Thordon’s water lubricated elastomeric polymer bearings on both shafts for 24 years. Then in 2018 the port shaft was retrofitted with a European made laminate phenolic-type bearing as part of a shaft alignment contract with the manufacturer.

Thordon Bearings has received a Canadian Coast Guard contract to supply six award-winning SeaThigor shaft seals for retrofit installation to three purpose-built icebreakers. The order follows the success of the 2017 installation and subsequent operation of SeaThigor seals aboard the oceanographic and hydrographic survey vessel CCGS Hudson, for which a procurement agreement was signed with the Government of Canada under its Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP).