Greasing News

Strength, Safety and Sustainability are at the heart of this Homeland Security stakeholder’s mission set.For over 30 years, high performance fiber rope manufacturer Phillystran has worked with the U.S. Coast Guard to supply mooring and towing lines. As innovations in fiber rope technology have enabled lighter and stronger ropes, the Coast Guard has not been slow to take advantage of these and other developments.In step with most maritime stakeholders, NAVSEA approved fiber ropes are widely used by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Shipyard Gebr. Kooiman BV in Zwijndrecht successfully started with the production of an in-house developed Kooiman Stern Tube Aft Seal several years ago. Kooiman now has obtained Bureau Veritas Type Approval of her Stern Tube Aft Seal.Compact, simple, robust and effective. This stern tube seal is most suitable for both retro-fit and new building applications. Combined with an integrated rope guard, this stern tube seal warrants an excellent protection of the shaft against accumulation of sand, dirt, rust, etc.A commonly known problem, leakage of the stern tube aft seal.

With the Polar Code now in force, Thordon Bearings has urged shipowners and managers to verify that their vessels’ deck machinery and systems can operate safely in the extreme temperatures encountered in Arctic and Antarctic seas. Scott Groves, Thordon Bearings Regional Manager – Americas, said: “Conventional bronze bearings commonly found in everything from fairleads and lifeboat davits to winches and hoists require frequent maintenance and grease lubrication to ensure machinery is operationally effective.

Be it a mega yacht, workboat or ship, tremendous forces are put on warping rollers. Traditionally manufactured with bronze bearings that require regular maintenance and greasing, Vesconite is the modern polymer alternative that outclasses metallic materials, according to its manufacturer. Vesconite is self-lubricating and performs when dry or wet with seawater. Because it doesn't need grease or oil, it's environmentally friendly and complies with the EPA's Uniform National Discharge Standards. It provides low friction and zero stick-slip.

Around 1,300 offshore support vessels lying idle worldwide. Not everyone in shipping is bemoaning the industry's worst crisis in living memory: a cluster of companies that help preserve equipment and provide security for vessels parked around southeast Asia are busier than they have been for years. A popular lay-up anchorage near Indonesia's Batam island, a short hop from Singapore, is growing crowded, and firms such as Ocean Shipcare and Brubay Shipcare are running out of space at another at Brunei Bay, near Labuan, off northern Borneo. "Where do we go next? It's a good question, because we are trying to explore some other areas also," said Kanen Senasendram, base manager at Ocean Shipcare, which operates in Brunei Bay. He says he may need to hire more staff.

A new SKF Taconite Seal for bearings in split block housings protects against contaminated or wet operating conditions. According to the manufacturer, benefits of this multi-stage labyrinth cartridge seal include exclusion of contaminants, improved prevention of water ingress (even during high-pressure washing), maximized bearing and seal service life, reduced grease consumption, reduced environmental impact and optimized machine performance and uptime. The seal provides an especially practical barrier solution for demanding applications such as conveyor pulleys…

TrustLube is among one of the first suppliers to deliver her high-tech system to SBM Offshore for Shell’s Prelude, which was launched in December last year. The TrustLube system was completely engineered and produced at the OudGastel location in The Netherlands. The system consists of an explosion proof grease cabinet to lubricate the radial wheel, axial boogie and axial boogie guiding of the world’s largest turret. Stainless steel framed grease applicators are used to connect the metering devices to dispense the grease equally on the wheel surfaces.

Not every ship repair facility has a drydock or marine railway. But thanks to a Sturgeon Bay, Wis.-based company, shipbuilders and repair yards from small to large can get a real lift. Marine Travelift builds boat hoists, self-propelled transporters, and marine forklifts, with more than 3,500 units delivered worldwide, and can be found at waterfronts all around the world. “Our boat hoists range from 15 ton all the way up to 1,000 ton capacity,” said Jason Johnson, North American sales manager. “Marine Travellift has been involved with shipyards since the 1980s.

Thordon Bearings Inc. has launched the newest addition to their grease‐free polymer lineup: ThorPlas‐Blue. The lifetime lubricated bearing formula is capable of operating pressures up to 45MPa (6,527 psi) and can be easily back‐fit into virtually all deck machinery applications where greased bronze is currently installed. ThorPlas‐Blue was developed as a maintenance‐free solution to replaced greased bronze bearings as well as eliminate a source of pollution. Deck machinery and steering gear bearings require frequent maintenance and grease lubrication.

Nexans, a worldwide expert in the cable industry, is at Oceanology 2012 to promote its wide range of cable solutions developed to meet the specific needs of workclass ROV manufacturers and operators. Nexans’ specialized ROV cable manufacturing facility in Norway can produce steel armoured umbilicals for vehicles commonly used for trenching, ploughing, maintenance and drill support applications. The cables are typically designed with a two or three layer torque balanced armouring and 3 phase power supply, instrumentation and fibre optics. The typical depth rating is 2000 to 4000 metres. Deep water umbilicals are designed…

San Francisco Bay-based KKMI has purchased a Marine Travelift 50 BFMII mobile boat hoist for its new Sausalito boatyard facility, sister to the original KKMI location in Point Richmond. The new facility is designed to preserve the integrity of Sausalito’s working waterfront; showcase KKMI’s best management practices, especially in the arena of environmental compliance; and offer top-quality professional services to local boaters. According to CEO Paul Kaplan, every aspect of the operation needed to be compatible with these goals — and that included the new Marine Travelift mobile boat hoist.

Everyone knows everyone else's business in this industry, or at least they think they do, and certainly try to. Who owns this or is buying that is information as eagerly sought for tactical insight as it is for gossip, and is equally protected by those in the know. The ex-S/R Everett, lately known as the Lincoln Sea, has been a buzz on New York harbor ever since the newswires hummed with reports that K-Sea had bought the Mobil-built boat. But that was back in January. If it's true, the scuttlebutt asked, how come the winter has passed, the spring has passed, and the boat's still painted blue - not the white superstructure, green decks, tan stacks, and red trim of K-Sea?

There have been plenty of books published on the subject of tugboats in the past few years, sharing a cookie-cutter similarity - they're large, handsome, colorful, well-produced coffee-table volumes, which pretty much cover the same introductory material in the same glancing way. In all those regards and quite a few more, Virginia Thorndike's On Tugboats is a different sort of book. For starters, it's not large nor particularly handsome, and not all that well-produced - a standard paperback printed in black-and-white on paper that will probably not last for centuries. But then, it is a book crying out to be read, where coffee-table books ask merely to be seen.

Record gas prices, OPEC solidarity and a U.S. administration doling out incentives for exploration and production all add up to good news for those companies conducting business in or profiting from the offshore market. There is little doubt that the international offshore market, led by the Gulf of Mexico, is poised for a record rebound in the second half of 2001 and beyond. The tandem of high crude prices — spurred by OPEC's seeming solidarity on controlling output — combined with the emphasis on expanding offshore production by the new U.S. administration seemingly provides the proverbial "win-win" for all companies that makes its living finding and recovering resources, or those companies that supply vessels, products and services to the offshore oil business.