Italdraghe SpA (Italy) recently supplied and commissioned two rudder propellers for installation on the Indian-built crane barge MV Narmada Jalprabha, which was designed for iron and coal carrier un/loading.
The vessel, built by M/S Shoft Shipyard (Bharuch) for the Ahillyabai Sardesai Group features a 30 tons (at 35 M) Mac-Greggor crane.
The deck mounted GPM350 (400 HP) rudder propellers feature Volvo D12 engines, 360° azimuthal rotation, 60° hydraulic trim, 4 blade bronze propellers (1,200 mm diameter) and 500 mm hydraulic immersion adjustment.
The units were tested both during construction at the Italdraghe shipyard and after installation during sea trials held India in the presence of the vessel owner, ship builder and engineers from the Indian Registry of Shipping, under which they were classed.
The speeds achieved by the rudder propellers while the crane barge was in open sea navigation far exceeded client requirements and expectations.
Mr. Anup Sardesai, of the Ahillyabai Sardesai Group (Goa) is quoted as saying: “We have recently installed, commissioned, and put to use two Italdraghe rudder propulsion systems on our vessel Narmada Jalprabha, and the same have given us excellent performance. The vessel had done its maiden self propelled voyage on the systems of roughly 300nm over 4 days. Not only has the system performed flawlessly it has given us a top speed of 8+nm per hour with the tide.”
Although Italdraghe is perhaps best known as a cutter suction dredger manufacturer, it has in fact been designing and building rudder propellers for more than forty years.
Its rudder propellers range includes both mechanical and hydraulic units offering all the benefits of combined propulsion and steering. Thanks to their 360° tail shaft rotation the propellers also function as extremely efficient manoeuvring and positioning rudders.
Their trim system allows the position of the propellers to be adjusted according to vessel load and water depth while their hydraulic jacks mean that they can easily be raised out of the water for inspection and maintenance.
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Italdraghe, January 16, 2013