FLEET BEARING PROBLEMS SOLVED

Thordon Bearings has completed a range of water-lubricated and grease-free bearing installations to a third salt lugger in the Salinor/Navenor fleet, following the successful retrofitting of bearings to problematic newbuilds.

Thortech, Thordon Bearing’s São Paulo-based distributor, supplied a complete shaft and rudder bearing and seal package for the newbuild shallow draught bulker Comandante Paschoal, which Rio de Janeiro’s São Miguel shipyard delivered in August 2018.

Scott Groves, Thordon’s regional manager – Americas, said: “In addition to the Comandante Paschoal installation, we have also been contracted to provide the full shaft line specification for a new salt carrier due for delivery next month. Thortech is also negotiating the supply of Thordon bearing solutions for a newbuild planned for 2019.”

Full package

Equipment supplied for Comandante Paschoal included a pair of RiverTough propeller shaft bearings, NCB liners and three TG100 mechanical seals for shaft diameters of 135mm, Thordon SXL rudder bearings for rudder shaft diameters of 168mm, and grease-free ThorPlas-Blue bearings for the vessel’s tiller arms and rudder stocks.

The Brazilian owner of the Salinor/Navenor fleet opted for the Thordon package following the rapid failure of the bronze and phenolic bearings supplied by a competitor to two newbuilds at the Manaus Shipyard delivered in 2015.

As the blue water bearings and liners originally supplied were not suitable for operation in dirtier waters, salt carrier Nossa Sra. das Das Vitorias was retrofitted with Thordon’s SXL propeller shaft bearings after just three weeks of operation, while sister ship Dona Zita was retrofitted with RiverTough shaft bearings and hardened steel liners in 2016.