Page 64: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2013)

64 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? AUGUST 2013 Gigantic records are set by land, sea and air. For them to be set, modern high-tech solutions are needed that in the right combination make the impos-sible possible. For example, one insider calls gigantic ferry boats ?cruise ships with car decks.? By that he is referring to their size and the comfort that size brings with it. The biggest ferry boat ever built was launched in South Korea in 2012. Going along with it was the German-made standard gearboxes that in size, performance and quality are far from just standard. In 2012, the world?s largest ever means of transporting mo- tor cars and commercial vehicles was added to the list of gigantic record-holders, as the world?s largest ferry boat.Low-Vibration Gearbox Tech Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine (DSME) shipyard built a gigantic ferry that put everything built to date in the shade. This ocean giant (DSME new- build number 7511, dubbed Hannibal), which can carry 3,200 passengers ac-commodated in Þ rst-class cabins and 1,060 vehicles, was built for the Tuni- sian state shipping company CoTuNav and today runs the route between Tuni- sia, Italy and France. Important for guests? comfort is that during their time aboard, engine noise and vibration is kept as low as possi-ble, which is one reason the decision-makers chose a Flender Navilus GVLQ 2500 by Siemens for the propulsion gearbox, a multi-engine ship?s gearbox optimized for low noise and vibration TECHNICAL FEATURE GEAR TECHNOLOGY Gigantic Gear Unit Technology Gigantic multi-engine ship?s gearboxes in the world?s biggest ferry boat By Ralf Meyersieck, Mechanical Drives, Siemens AG (Source: Siemens) Fig. 1: For the world?s largest ferry boat which was put into operation in 2012, Siemens built two twin-engine propulsion gearboxes which together deliver 57,600 MW of motor-power to the adjustable propellers. MR #8 (58-65).indd 64MR #8 (58-65).indd 648/2/2013 11:03:29 AM8/2/2013 11:03:29 AM