Norway-based Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Skipsrederi has ordered four Promas platforms, a system containing an integrated bulb, propeller hubcap and twisted rudder from Rolls-Royce.
The systems will be installed at the beginning of 2008 in four 33,500dwt bulk carriers that are being built by the Nantong Mingde shipyard,
According to Rolls-Royce, Promas delivers an improved propulsion efficiency because the twisted rudder shape, to which a bulb is attached, creates a stronger forward thrust from the slipstream that comes from the 5.2m diameter propellor.
Overall efficiency of the ship is said to be improved by an integrated system at the stern that requires less power, and therefore reduces emission levels.
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17 months or two and a half years - which is it?