New Rudders for the World’s Largest Box Ships

The world’s largest containerships are continuing to operate using full spade rudders from Becker Marine Systems. “The Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding shipyard in China has ordered our Becker Twist Rudder with a rudder surface of 100 square meters for six 21,000 TEU containerships,” report Dirk Lehmann and Henning Kuhlmann, both Managing Directors of Becker Marine Systems, at SMM, the leading international maritime trade fair being held in Hamburg from September 6-9.

In addition, other major orders have been placed for the Becker Performance Package, comprising a Becker Twist Rudder with Rudder Bulb and Becker Mewis Duct Twisted. One of these orders came from the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in Korea for nine 14,000 TEU container ships. Furthermore, Becker Marine Systems was awarded an order to equip ten 2,800 TEU container ships from the Imabari Shipbuilding shipyard in Japan with the Becker Twist Rudder with Rudder Bulb.

The successful Becker Mewis Duct product is also experiencing a good order situation with an order from the New Times Shipbuilding shipyard in China to fit them on 14 of their 158,000 DWT Suezmax tankers. “To extend the capabilities of the Becker Mewis Duct we are currently working on offering solutions for twin screw vessels,” said Lehmann and Kuhlmann. The use of all Becker Mewis Ducts delivered to date have already lowered emissions of CO2 by more than 2.8 million metric tons worldwide.

At two separate stands at the Hamburg Messe exhibition center, Becker Marine Systems is exhibiting a successful interaction of economy and ecology. In addition to the Maneuvering Systems and Energy-Saving-Devices product lines, there is also the LNG Hybrid Concepts division. The company has also developed a number of offerings for the use of low emission Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

“Despite significant regulatory requirements, the operation of our LNG Hybrid Barge supplying power to cruise ships moored along the quay wall at the port of Hamburg is running smoothly and to our complete satisfaction,” Lehmann reported.

“During AIDAsol’s recent call to the port, the barge transferred approx. 35 MWh of power,” Kuhlmann added. In addition, there is the LNG PowerPac, a specially-designed modular container system used to supply power to ships. It allows the alternative fuel to be used, for instance, directly on board container ships. This makes unnecessary the use of other technologies and construction work on infrastructure at ports which can frequently be quite costly.

Becker Marine Systems said the focus of its appearance at the trade fair is once again on products resulting in energy savings and an accompanying reduction in operating costs. A new innovation was exclusively presented at SMM: The low-cost, compact and easy-to-install on board Compact Battery Rack (COBRA) battery system is currently in the test phase and starting in summer 2017 can be delivered as an independent product or in combination with hybrid drives. Initial orders for passenger ferries, among others, have already been placed for this technology based on lithium-ion cells. Use in internal products such as the LNG PowerPac is also possible and being planned. “We have successfully managed to transfer a tried and tested e-mobility application to the maritime world,” Lehmann said.

Many of these innovative ideas have contributed toward the ship supplier’s revenues having remained stable since the last SMM held two year’s ago, settling in at over 100 million Euros. “Due to our strength and the force of innovation in our core business as well as continuous product development in the field of alternative fuels, we view the outlook for growth as continuing to remain stable despite a difficult overall market environment in the shipping industry,” Kuhlmann said. Becker Marine Systems currently has approximately 250 employees worldwide and the Hamburg-based company recently opened an office in Kobe, Japan.