World’s Largest Full Spade Rudder Installed

Reportedly the world´s largest full spade rudder, engineered by Becker Marine Systems, has been recently been successfully installed on the first of a series of 8,400 TEU container vessels currently building at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in South Korea. The vessel is owned by Norddeutsche Vermögen and will be chartered to Hapag Lloyd. The installed twisted TLKSR® rudder measures 67 m2 and is designed for a speed of about 26 knots.

Becker’s TLKSR Twisted Leading Edge rudders are designed to avoid rudder induced cavitation erosion that can damage conventional semi-spade rudders on these fast vessel types.

In 2005 Becker Marine Systems, whose head office is located in Hamburg, Germany, will supply more than 36 TLKSR rudders for large and fast vessels worldwide. This includes four 8,400 TEU container vessels (Mediterranean Shipping Corporation), two 7,900 TEU vessels (Malaysia International Shipping Corporation), four 4,500 TEU vessels (Niederelbe Schiffahrtsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG), six 4,250 TEU (Rickmers Reederei) and three 4,200 lane-metre Ro-Pax vessels (Finnlines). Furthermore, additional 25 TLKSR deliveries are already contracted for 2006.

Twisted Leading Edge rudders provide many advantages, such as avoidance of rudder cavitation erosion, significantly reduced weight, increased manoeuvrability and lower fuel consumption through reduced drag and increased propulsion efficiency. These benefits have attracted many shipyards, shipowners and shipmanagers worldwide. The most recent TLKSR order comes from Hyundai Heavy Industries, Korea: E.R. Schiffahrt GmbH & CIE. of Hamburg, will equip their series of nine 8,200 TEU container vessels with similar 67 m2 TLKSR® rudders.