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Princess Cruises has specified Thordon water
lubricated Compac propeller shaft bearing systems for two new GRAND
Class cruise ships being built at Fincantieri Cantieri Navali Italiani
SpA for 2007 and 2008 delivery.
Princess Cruises, part of Carnival
Corporation, currently has seven vessels fitted with water lubricated
Compac bearings after the first installation in 1998 on Grand Princess.
"The water lubricated bearings from Thordon have been problem free,"
says Richard Vie, Vice President Newbuildings for Carnival Corporation.
"Based on bearing wear data, we are not expecting to replace the
bearings more than once in the life of the vessel, or perhaps not at
all."
Thordon bearings is supplying its unique
compac single key design bearings for 116,000 GRT twin screw newbuild
vessel. The tapered single key design allows the bearing to be easily
withdrawn from the bronze carrier, inspected and reinstalled with the
shaft still in place. The compac elastomeric polymer alloy bearings for
the 642mm (25in) diameter propeller shafts are designed to promote
hydrodynamic operation at low shaft speeds and provide long wear life. A
flow of seawater will be provided to the bearings for efficient cooling
and lubrication in this pollution free propeller shaft bearing.
By completely eliminating oil from the
stern tube and struts, Thordon's Compac system ensures there is no risk
of pollution or subsequent environmental violations that could result
from stern tube oil leakage, however small. There are currently over 380
Commercial and Naval vessels that are equipped with Thordon Compac water
lubricated propeller shaft bearings plus many more on order. |
