Page 51: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2000)

bed passenger capacity measure of 3,138 or maximum of 3,840, together with up to 1,180 crew.

This ship has occupied some of the best minds in interior design as well as some of the most innovative minds in naval architecture. It furthermore denotes the attainment of a new mile- stone in the passengership domain as regards marine engineering technology, expressed in her refined diesel-electric power and propulsion system incorpo- rating a triple Azipod configuration.

Voyager of the Seas is emphatically also a new showcase for the concept of redundancy, applied to the main ship- board operating systems, and signifying central concerns with issues of reliabili- ty and safety.

Power of the Pod

The creation and integration of podded propulsion systems - arguably one of the most innovative maritime technological advances ever — eminates wholly from the Finnish maritime cluster of ship- builders, marine equipment suppliers and technology innovators. The Finns, with a long track record in thruster tech- nology, were the leaders in the podded drive concept, first applied in the form of a 1.5-MW Azipod unit to a Finnish waterway service vessel in 1991. The most widely employed system to date,

Azipod was originated by ABB Industry and Kvaerner Masa-Yards (KMY), but

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri is also a shareholder today in the system's propri- etary company.

The growing uptake of integral elec- tric-driven, podded propulsors in the most capital-intensive sector of the cruise shipping industry, has forever altered the established position of con- ventional propulsion systems in an important segment of the market. Hav- ing established a foothold in the offshore sector, the concept will undoubtedly find increasing application with the next upswing in investment by the offshore oil and gas industry.

The relative paucity of orders for pod- ded drives in areas where precision han- dling is paramount, as with icebreakers, cableships, ferries and specialized tankers, belies the extent to which such systems are being written into draft pro- posals or discussed at the project plan- ning stage. The concept is especially apposite to vessels with varying service profiles, particularly where high maneu- verability is required.

The long-term sales impact of the industrial commitment from the design engineering and manufacturing side can- not be understated. In each case, podded propulsors are the products of pairings entailing major players in propulsion and electrical engineering, entailing direct or indirect links with leading ship- builders, in certain instances.

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February, 2000 51