News

Thordon Bearings has been awarded a contract to supply seawater-lubricated bearings for installation to the first of two modified versions of the Harry DeWolf-class of Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessels (AOPV). The new ships for the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) are on order and will be built at Irving Shipbuilding’s Halifax Shipyard. The CCG AOPV are versions of the six AOPV that Halifax Shipyard is building for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), all of which feature Thordon’s seawater-lubricated bearings.

Thordon Bearings has further strengthened its presence in the Taiwanese market, delivering water-lubricated elastomeric polymer bearings for installation on cooling water pumps commissioned for a major power plant expansion project. Thordon’s SXL and Composite non-metallic bearings have been specified by San Tai Pumps, which are providing the cooling water pumps to the state-owned Taiwan Power Company (“TPC”).

When a 9,280hp workboat returned to service following extensive repairs at the James Marine Paducah River Service yard in Kentucky, U.S.A., it marked the first application of Thordon’s new seal-embedded bearing to an articulating rudder. Articulating rudders are unlike conventional rudders and can be more costly to repair when things go wrong. They are more susceptible to wear and tear, due to the higher operating pressures and abrasives, and as a result, require a more robust bearing and seal solution.

Egypt’s SUMED pipeline operator Arab Petroleum Pipeline Company (SUMED) has completed the tailshaft conversion to Thordon’s SXL seawater-lubricated bearing system for seven special purpose single point mooring (SPM) service boats. The final in a series of 17.5m (57.4ft) long, 1976–built service boats had its original oil-lubricated tailshaft bearings replaced with the Thordon system at Nefertiti Marine’s Yard-K, in Rosetta Nile, in December 2022. The first vessel, SUMED 10, was converted in 2019.

Ecuador’s foremost tuna fishing operator NIRSA has completed a project to convert the tailshaft seals and bearings aboard the 1973-built tuna vessel BP EL Marquez to a seawater-lubricated package from Thordon Bearings. In total, four Thordon SXL propeller shaft bearings and a pair of TG100 mechanical shaft seals, each of which features Thordon’s emergency-safe-return-to-port (SRTP) capability, replaced a competitor’s seawater-lubricated bearings and stuffing box after the shaft had suffered early wear due to gland packing. Bronze shaft liners were also included in the Thordon scope of supply in what marked a significant retrofit project that required the renewal of shafts, sterntubes, seals and bearings.

SIGMA Group, one of Europe’s leading industrial pump manufacturers, has specified Thordon Bearings’ grease-free bearings for installation to the specialized pumping sets destined for flood defence and irrigation projects across Egypt. In total, Thordon is supplying 64 of their water-lubricated Composite bearings for use in 49 SIGMA BQBV vertical diagonal pumps specified for projects along the Nile River and the Sinai Peninsula.