Small but Powerful: Kongsberg Maritime Launches New Retractable Azimuth Thrusters

The Norwegian maritime equipment and technology company Kongsberg Maritime has launched a new series of retractable azimuth thrusters.

Kongsberg said that the units, of the ULE PM type, are smaller than competing units but maintain thrust power.

Kongsberg Maritime said that because of their compact size, the new thrusters could be used on modern offshore wind, fishing, and naval vessels with limited space on board.

"The ULE PM type thruster has an integrated electric prime mover mounted very low between the steering gear. This saves more than a meter in vertical space in an engineering compartment. The ULE PM Type is the smallest retractable unit on the market for any given power requirement," Kongsberg said.

Pasi Villanen, product manager for retractable thrusters in Kongsberg Maritime said:" We took a hard look at our thruster design after seeing the challenges our customers face finding the right equipment with optimal size-to-performance ratios and that work with their vessel designs and operating profiles."

“Thanks to thorough testing, these new ULE PM type thrusters are now the best performing units in their size, which makes them a perfect choice for auxiliary propulsion.”

All ULE PM-type thrusters are available as a Combi unit, which functions as an azimuth for maneuvering and dynamic positioning, or as a tunnel thruster when retracted into a tunnel. 

According to Kongsberg, the ULE PM Combi units have optimized drivetrains and hydrodynamics for high thrust and fast response time, which allows the number and size of propulsion units in a vessel to be reduced.