News

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 confirmed the appointment of Scott Groves as Vice President – Sales, with a mandate to “grow profitable sales” and build upon the company’s leading position in the global pollution-free bearings and seals markets.

As part of a strategy to help facilitate the overhaul of Canada’s aging hydropower turbines, Thordon Bearings has announced the appointment of Millstream Engineering as an authorized distributor for the Southern and North-Western Ontario regions, as well as providing support for hydropower customers in Western Canada. With a presence in Orillia and Burlington, both in Ontario, the company will provide distribution and mechanical engineering support for Thordon’s complete portfolio of hydropower, vertical pump and industrial bearings and seals.

Bedford Pumps Ltd, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-capacity flood defence pumps, has selected Thordon Bearings water lubricated SXL bearings for a new pump design developed for the Islington Pumping Station, in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England. This important project will see four fish-friendly land drainage and flood control pumps installed at the new 16,000 l/s (253,605 US gal./min.) capacity pumping station which, when commissioned, will protect a 6000ha (23 square miles) area of low-lying fenland.

One of the world’s oldest tugboats, the 117-year-old, steam-driven Daniel Adamson, is set to return to service offering short cruises along the River Weaver, a tributary of the fabled Mersey River in England, after the completion of a project to install new propeller shaft bearings. The 1903-built steamship, rescued from scrap merchants 15 years ago, was fully restored in 2016 at Birkenhead’s Cammell Laird yard, the original builder of the vessel. Thordon Bearings’ SXL water lubricated propeller shaft bearings were installed last year after competitor bearings failed.

Thordon Bearings has added to the growing concern over proposed changes to Vessel Incidental Discharge National Standards of Performance (VIDA) requirements, citing far reaching environmental consequences if clauses in the existing document are removed. In a statement submitted to the United States Environmental Protection Agency on November 20th 2020, the Canada-based bearings and seals pioneer “strongly questions the removal of some text” in the proposed amendments, stating that such omissions will mean existing zero pollution solutions will be overlooked.