Converted Tanker Uikku Delivered By Kvaerner Masa's Helsinki New Shipyard

Tanker Features New Azipod Azimuthing Electric Propulsion Drive The 16,000-dwt icebreaking tanker M/T Uikku was delivered by Kvaerner Masa-Yards' Helsinki New Shipyard, and the vessel features a 11.4 MW azimuthing electric Azipod-propulsion drive, a system jointly developed by Kvaerner Masa-Yards and ABB Industry. The vessel was delivered to NEMARC Shipping Company, and recently started oil transportation in the Baltic.

During the Arctic shipping season, the vessel will traffic in the Barents Sea area for the joint-venture company Arctic Shipping Services.

The Aziped Drive Azipod is an azimuthing electric propulsion drive, with a propulsion motor normally an electric alternating current (AC) synchronous motor, located inside the azimuthing unit.

The motor, which drives a fixedpitch propeller, is speed controlled by a cycloconverter.

The system effectively eliminates the need for conventional shaft lines and rudders, and the need for stern thrusters or controllable pitch propellers and reduction gears.

The unit on the Uikku is the world's largest single azimuthing propulsion drive built. The unit is constructed to the requirements of the Det Norske Veritas ICE 10 ice class.

For maximum operational safety and redundancy, the synchronous propulsion motor has two windings, each separately controlled by its own cycloconverter. The propulsion shaft line of the Azipod unit of this size is accessible through a manhole and can be inspected without drydocking the vessel.

The rotatable Azipod drive enables full power thrust in any desired direction, a feature helpful in problematic ice conditions. The Ml T Uikku is equipped with a pusher version of the Azipod; a tractor version is also available.

The Conversion M/T Uikku arrived at the Kvaerner yard for modernization last August. The conversion involved replacing the existing installation (diesel reduction gear and controllable pitch propeller) with a cycloconverter-controlled 11.4 MW (15,500 hp) Azipod drive powered by two Wartsila Vasa 12V32 (2 x 4,920 kW) diesel engines, each coupled to a ABB 6200 kVA generator and one Wartsila Vasa 12V22 (1,950 kW) diesel generator using the existing shaft generator. Two Alfa Laval heavy fuel separators and four lube oil separators were also installed.

The M/T Uikku is one of a series of four special tankers built for Neste Shipping at the end of the 1970's, and the modernization is geared to significantly extend the service life. The first prototype 1.5 MW Azipod unit was installed on the Finnish waterway service vessel Seili in late 1990. The results were so encouraging that Kvaerner Masa-Yards and ABB Industry signed an agreement for further development and sale of the Azipod in spring 1992. Azipod units, to date, are available up to 20 MW.

The latest Azipod order is for a river icebreaker for the Austrian Osterreichisch Donaukraftwerke AG, to be delivered in spring 1995 from Kvaerner Masa-Yards' Helsinki New Shipyard. The vessel will operate in assisting river traffic and break ice formations at the power stations in the Danube river. The vessel will be equipped with two azimuthing electric propulsion drives with a total power of 1.1 kW.

For more information on the project from Kvaerner Masa-Yards,