Damen Marine Components will supply eight 5,050-millimeter propeller nozzles for four ultra-long distance towing and anchor handling vessel newbuilds. They are the largest nozzles that DMC will have manufactured with its spinning machine technique to date. The order was placed by Caterpillar Propulsion of Gothenburg.

Caterpillar will provide the complete main propulsion units and has commissioned Damen Marine Components, a member of the Damen Shipyards Group, to design, engineer and produce the nozzle and head box sets.

The four sister vessels are under construction in Japan for ALP Maritimes Services, a recently acquired Teekay Offshore Partners subsidiary. The 300+ tonne bollard pull, 24,400 BHP ocean towing and anchor handling vessels will have two propulsion units each in a CPP stern-drive and rudder configuration.

“We’ll manufacture the nozzles with the spinning machine in our plant in Jiang Yin, China”, DMC director Steef Staal said about the novel manufacturing technique that includes one single weld only. DMC’s Optima nozzles have a 5,050 millimeter inside diameter to accommodate a 5,000-millimeter CP propeller. They will outsize any nozzle manufactured with DMC’s first spinning machine in the plant in Gdansk, Poland.

“The nozzles are designed with a relatively narrow head box and strut connection, but stiff enough to secure the frequency profile,” Staal said. “We do not just blindly copy the propeller manufacturers’ specs. This is why the prominent OEM’s are our main clients.”

*NEWS SOURCE