Shipping folk attending this year’s London International Shipping Week (LISW) will be able to find out exactly why seawater-based propeller shaft lubricants are the most cost effective way of complying with environmental regulations.
In a paper to be presented during LISW at the Fathom-organised Ship Efficiency conference, Thordon Bearings' Director of Marketing and Customer Service, Craig Carter, will reveal that the high cost and unproven performance of new synthetic oils is seeing seawater lubricated bearing systems gain greater traction in the newbuild and retrofit markets.
“The shipping industry is returning to water-lubricated systems for a number of commercial and technical reasons,” says Carter. “Compared to existing propeller shaft lubricants based on synthetic oils, which can be over seven times more expensive than traditional mineral oils, seawater-based systems have substantially lower life-cycle costs over a 25 year period.”
Carter’s paper will detail the operational experience from some of the 2000 vessels operating its COMPAC seawater-based system and highlight how a newbuild Aframax, for example, could shave almost US$400,000 off life-cycle costs.
Thordon Bearings will open the Environmental Management for Commercial Gain session on the second day of the two-day conference, which takes place in London on the 9th September.