Schottel Going Full Speed Ahead

Schottel ended the year 2003 with record sales. With 550 employees worldwide, the company continued the previous year’s trend, achieving sales in the new systems and service sectors totalling 90 million euro (2002: 81 million). Sales for the group were thus increased by 11%, and once again exports accounted for some 80% of the total. The extremely satisfactory volume of incoming orders in the last 12 months, amounting to some 88 million euro, means that 42 million euro of orders are on hand for the year 2004. Of particular significance are the latest worldwide sales successes in the areas of tug propulsion systems, offshore supply vessels, cruise ships, research vessels, ferries and military vessels. Also contributing to the good overall results is our service department, with a large number of conversions and modernizations of existing systems. Thus SCHOTTEL is going full speed ahead into the year 2004. The fact that of 470 employees in Germany, 50 are engineers working in the research and development area alone, reinforces the goal to “always be at the leading edge in technology”, underlines the Chairman, Dipl.-Kfm. Dietrich W. Bork. Now sharing with him the leadership of the SCHOTTEL group of companies is Dipl.-Ing. Jost Körte as Managing Director. The SCHOTTEL Twin Propeller (STP) – the optimized-efficiency variant of the classic Rudderpropeller – is today one of the most successful SCHOTTEL products for vessels of all types and sizes. This includes everything from modern river cruise ships on European waterways to offshore supply vessels on the open ocean. The technology of the Twin Propeller, in which thrust is generated by two propellers rotating in the same direction on a single shaft, also served as a model for the Siemens-SCHOTTEL Propulsor (SSP), with power ratings up to 20 MW. This pod drive is designed for sea-going ferries, tankers, and container ships, for example, and has proved reliable on RoPax ferries of the TT-Line, chemical tankers of the Swedish Donsötank Reederi and heavy-lift carriers of the Chinese Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO). A “little brother” of this propulsion system is a completely in-house development project, in which SCHOTTEL engineers are satisfying the trend towards electric marine propulsion systems with power ratings up to about 5 MW. At present, two of these type SEP 2 SCHOTTEL Electric Propulsors are being used to equip a multi-purpose vessel, which will go into operation as a spillage incident vessel and icebreaker on the Baltic Sea beginning in 2004. Power is provided by the two main propulsion units of 1850 kW each; the vessel, built on behalf of the German Water Board, also has outstanding manoeuvring characteristics thanks to a SCHOTTEL type SPJ 220 Pump-Jet with a power rating of 1000 kW in the bow. The MARIA S. MERIAN, a new German research vessel with ice class GL-E 4, is also being fitted with two SEP 2s (2 x 2.1 MW max.) as main propulsion and a type SPJ 320 Pump-Jet (max. 2200 kW). The landing ship dock LPD-2 JOHAN DE WITT of the Royal Netherlands Navy is being equipped with two SEP 5s (5.5 MW each) for main propulsion. SCHOTTEL engineers have combined the main technical and economic criteria of both mechanical rudderpropellers and pod drives to develop a new concept. In contrast to pod drives with an electric motor inside the underwater pod, the motor in the new SCHOTTEL Combi Drive (SCD) is integrated vertically into the support tube of the Rudderpropeller. The vertical arrangement of the electric motor means that the concept is similar to that of a Rudderpropeller with a vertical power input (“L system”). Moreover, neither an above-water gearbox nor a cardan shaft is required, making the system extremely compact and easy for the shipyard to install in the vessel. This very small space requirement is especially advantageous for offshore supply vessels with limited interior height in the stern, for example. Other potential applications include RoPax and double-ended ferries, tankers, container ships and yachts. This new electromechanical SCHOTTEL Combi Drive is based on the successful Rudderpropeller types SRP 1515, SRP 2020 and SRP 3030, with their proven mechanical components, and covers the power range from 1900 to 3800 kW with propeller diameters from 2500 to 3500 mm. The azimuth steering can be implemented using either hydraulic or electric motors. The new drive will be available in both push propeller with nozzle and twin propeller versions. This expansion of the traditional SCHOTTEL product range to include electric propulsion systems in the megawatt range and advanced controllable-pitch propeller systems was preceded by the development of a suitable production plant in Wismar, on the shore of the Baltic Sea. The company invested some 20 million euro in modernization and building up new production capacity on the site of the former Wismarer Propeller- und Maschinenbau GmbH. The decision to develop the Wismar plant has proved absolutely correct, since the new products have given SCHOTTEL access to new areas of application, while also reinforcing the company’s position on the international markets. Almost 30 Rudderpropeller and SEP systems with a power rating of well over 2000 kW per unit were built by SCHOTTEL-Antriebstechnik GmbH in 2003. Among the systems developed and delivered by sister company SCHOTTEL-Schiffsmaschinen GmbH were controllable-pitch propeller systems, each with a power rating of 25 MW, for two of a series of ten ex-NORASIA container ships. These results demonstrate impressively how in this field, too the SCHOTTEL team is well-equipped to meet the rising requirements of the global market. The same is true of the team of the 100% subsidiary SUZHOU SCHOTTEL PROPULSION CO. LTD. in the People’s Republic of China. Their products, Rudderpropellers and Transverse Thrusters in the lower power range, and components for larger systems, meet SCHOTTEL standards in every respect. In addition to its companies in Wismar, its SCHOTTEL Hamburg branch, and the subsidiary in China, the group of companies also has subsidiaries in the Netherlands, France, Italy, the United States and Brazil, as well as representatives in all major shipping centres. A local presence and quick service are thus ensured.