Kappel prop will save fuel

A 105,000 dwt tanker is expected to reduce its fuel bill by 4 per cent thanks to a new propeller.

The Great Eastern Shipping Co’s 10-year-old Jag Lavanya has been fitted with a Kappel propeller supplied by MAN Diesel & Turbo in a contract that was time critical. The deal was signed by MAN Diesel & Turbo’s PrimeServ retrofit team in early November 2013 and the four-bladed, 6.9m propeller was awaiting shipment in early February from MAN Diesel & Turbo’s production partner in China, Dalian Marine Propeller Co, for installation in Singapore in April. At the time of writing, in early February, that yard had not been confirmed.

It was, said MAN Diesel & Turbo’s sales manager Christian Wollerup Sørensen, “an extraordinarily short delivery time,” which was necessary to meet a planned drydocking by the vessel. The schedule was met thanks to good co-operation between the Mumbai-based shipowner and MAN Diesel & Turbo’s Indian and Frederikshavn, Denmark, offices, MAN Diesel & Turbo said in a statement.

Assessments of the various fixed pitch propeller options for the ship’s retrofit showed that the Kappel design was optimum. Kappel propellers have a distinctive tip fin design and, “with this vessel’s speed and operating profile, the new Kappel propeller will deliver a fuel saving of 4 per cent together with a reduced level of pressure impulses to the hull, without adding any other efficiency-improving devices,” Mr Sørensen said.

The company recently announced a strategic focus that added the Kappel design to its established fixed pitch propeller portfolio, both for newbuildings and as a retrofit solution and Jag Lavanya is one of the first ships to benefit from this.

MAN Diesel & Turbo’s range of Kappel fixed pitch propellers will cover three-, four-, five- and six-bladed options, a spokesman told Marine Propulsion. Its next contract is for a series of three-bladed 7.2m metre Kappel propellers for the world’s largest car carriers to be built by Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry for Höegh Autoliners. MP