News

As Spain looks to enhance and upgrade its renewable energy sources, the country’s utilities are looking once again to reliable and cost effective hydro-electric power. Canada’s Thordon Bearings is helping to lower operational costs and improve the environmental credentials of several older Spanish hydro power stations.

Capital expenditure is always a key consideration during the system procurement process but when low cost components result in an increase in unbudgeted operational costs, then any savings quickly diminish. That was the experience of Saudi Arabia-based ship operator Hadi Hamad Al-Hammam when the original shaft seals fitted to Hadi 37, a 2013-built twin-screw offshore tug supply vessel (OTSV), began to leak and vibrate, resulting in regular visits to drydock for costly repairs.

China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) first specified a water lubricated propeller shaft arrangement for two 5000-unit pure car/truck carriers (PCTC) in 2007, and since then more and more shipowners and shipbuilders in China are rejecting oil lubricated propeller shaft and greased rudder bearing systems as a way of supporting their country’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

The National Marine Dredging Company has replaced the rubber cutter shaft bearings on the 89m dredger Al Khatem, marking a step closer to the Abu Dhabi-based dredging company’s fleet-wide conversion to Thordon Bearings’ seawater lubricated Composite cutterhead bearings and cutterhead intermediate lineshaft bearings. The 1979-built Al Khatem is the latest heavy-duty cutter suction dredger NDMC has converted to the Thordon solution, following the success of similar conversions to the Al Sadr, Al Mirfa, Al Hamra, Umm Al Zemoul, Umm Al Anber and the beaver Dredge 2.

Thordon Bearings is alerting its customers to the recent publication of a DNV GL study that concludes the recent surge in propeller shaft bearing failures is indeed related to the use of certain environmentally acceptable lubricants (EALs).

On October 31, 2019 George A. (Sandy) Thomson, the founder of Thordon Bearings and a pioneer in the development of advanced polymer materials, was presented with the 2019 Elmer A. Sperry Award in recognition of “leading the innovation in water-lubricated propeller shaft bearings” in marine transportation through the use of polymeric compounds. The award was presented to Mr. Thomson at the SNAME Maritime Convention, in Tacoma, USA, by the Chairman of the Board of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST), Mr. Richard Vie, a long-time friend and collaborator.