Green Award and Thordon chart new course to eliminate ship stern tube oil pollution forever
Thordon Bearings’ COMPAC open seawater lubricated propeller shaft bearing system is being offered to ship owners with a 5% rebate as part of the international Green Award Foundation’s Incentive Provider program.
The rebate applies to those Green Award certified shipping companies and their certified seagoing or inland navigating vessels.
This partnership will not only benefit ship owners but will help to shed light on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal #14 – Life Below Water. By using a seawater lubricated propeller shaft system instead of an oil lubricated system, another form of maritime pollution is removed.
Anna Galoni, CEO, Thordon Bearings, said: “We are delighted that Thordon Bearings has been accepted as an Incentive Provider to incentivize ship owners to eliminate oil discharges from their propeller shaft lines forever! What the Green Award Foundation has achieved in terms of driving the shipping industry’s clean agenda is nothing less than remarkable.”
Once Thordon Bearings has been paid by the shipyard for a complete COMPAC seawater lubricated propeller shaft bearing system in a newbuild ship, 5% of the total value of the COMPAC system will be paid to the ship owner.
Green Award Foundation Executive Director Jan Fransen said: “We are very thankful to Thordon Bearings for its incentive offer for the COMPAC seawater lubricated propeller shaft system. This provides a real opportunity for ship owners to build non-polluting ships and obtain the highest points for eliminating oil discharges from the propeller shaft. Naturally, preventing oil pollution in our rivers, seas and oceans is something we very strongly promote.”
As part of the Green Award Foundation’s stringent certification criteria, ships and their management companies are ranked based on their ability to “go above and beyond” the international mandatory requirements in terms of safety, quality, and environmental performance.
While the scope of the Green Award certification requirements differs between seagoing ships and inland waterway vessels, owners/operators of both types can receive extra points towards certification if they operate equipment designed to prevent or reduce pollution.
“More points can be awarded for an open seawater lubricated stern tube compared to the alternatives, and higher scores can mean more benefits for ship owners and managers,” said Craig Carter, Director of Marketing and Customer Service, Thordon Bearings.
“Green Award certified ships are recognized as being some of the most environmentally efficient in the world fleet, with operators benefitting from various operational, promotional and financial incentives,” he added.
Currently more than 150 port authorities, classification societies, trade bodies, flag states and equipment manufacturers have signed up as Incentive Providers offering a range of benefits to certificate holders, including reduced equipment and service costs and heavily discounted port fees.
Thordon Bearings officially signed up to the initiative in August but has been proactively involved with the Rotterdam-headquartered organization since 2004 when water lubricated stern tube bearings criteria were added to the requirements.
“Ship owners are encouraged to prevent this often-overlooked source of marine pollution. The addition of an open water lubricated stern tube arrangement prevents oil leaking from propeller shafts, is considered technically equivalent to an oil lubricated propeller shaft, reduces operating costs and significantly increases a ship owner’s green credentials,” Carter said.
To date more than 280 seagoing vessels operated by 44 different management companies and over 930 inland ships have achieved Green Award certification.
A Green Award plaque was presented to Thordon Bearings at stand 1101 during the Europort 2021 trade show, taking place this week, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Thordon’s COMPAC stern tube bearings are a non-metallic, elastomeric polymer alloy lubricated by seawater. To reduce start-up friction and eliminate stick-slip, COMPAC’s formulation includes special lubricants to provide a low coefficient of friction. To promote early formation of a hydrodynamic film between the shaft and bearing, the lower (loaded) portion of the bearing is smooth, while the upper half of the bearing incorporates grooves for flow of the water for lubrication and cooling. This has been shown to lead to fuel savings and thus reduced emissions. A key benefit of the seawater system is that it negates the need for a damage-prone aft seal.
A Thordon COMPAC open seawater lubricated propeller shaft system offers considerable advantages to ship owners, not only in bearing wear life predictability and reliability, but they are also cheaper to maintain, easier to install and are future compliant. The COMPAC system typically includes COMPAC bearings, shaft liners, a Water Quality Package, ThorShield shaft coating and a forward seal. The award-winning bearing system is guaranteed to meet Classification Society propeller shaft bearing wear specifications for the lifetime of the vessel.
About Thordon Bearings
Thordon Bearings is a Canadian company that designs and manufactures a complete range of journal bearing and seal systems for marine, clean power generation, pump and other industrial markets. These products are built using Thordon proprietary non-metallic polymer materials that are lubricated with water eliminating oil or grease usage, meaning ZERO risk of oil pollution to our rivers, lakes and oceans. Thordon systems and bearings are available worldwide through over 75 agents and distributors.
About Green Award Foundation
Green Award certifies sea-going oil and chemical tankers, bulk carriers, LNG and LPG carriers, container carriers, offshore vessels, RoRo, inland navigation barges and river cruise vessels. Its assessment criteria cover environmental, quality and safety aspects, and performance of management and the crew. With this comprehensive approach and a diverse team of the industry’s experts supporting the scheme, Green Award secures the quality of its audits and real value of its certificate. The program is consistent to 12 UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) supporting the ESG policies (Environmental, Social and Governance) of organisations across the globe. With over 150 ports and other maritime related organizations providing discounts to the certified companies and ships, the scheme motivates ship owners and managers to invest in the improvements on board and ashore and serves as a reliable Corporate Social Responsibility and risk reduction tool for participating shipping companies, ports and maritime service providers.