Container-ship leviathans to receive the CRP treatment

摘要

The development of the contra-rotating propeller (CRP) system would appear to be coming of age with the news that Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) of Japan has developed a specially designed unit for use on large Panamax and Post-Pana-max vessels covering the 4000TEU to 10,000TEU range. IHI is, of course, no stranger to CRP systems, having initiated extensive research for installation on large merchant ships back in 1984. This was followed in 1989 with the retrofitting of the 37,000dwt bulk carrier Juno, and in 1993 a further system was installed on the 259,000dwt VLCC Okinoshima Marti (The Naval Architect October 1993, page E444). IHI reports that both ships have demonstrated power savings of 14-15%, a high level of reliability, and today the duo are still operating successfully.