Page 66: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2014)

66 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? AUGUST 2014 GERMANYhe said U.S. shipyards build boats faster than its European counterparts.Coming HomeWhile the primary focus of this article is thruster adoption on inland water- ways vessels, the market for ZF Marine Krimpen b.v. extends far beyond the towboat sector. ?More and more the azimuth thrusters are used in all types of vessels, said van der Vegt. ?Where traditionally it was generally relegated to ferries and workboats, as the advantages become more obvious we supply units to an ever widening sector, including megayachts, tugboats as well as jack-up vessels and huge offshore construction vessels.?An interesting application which we witnessed Þ rst-hand at the Krimpen fa- cility was a massive 2MW Retractable Azimuth Thruster with a 2.4m propel- ler ? the largest retractable unit in the ZF Marine Krimpen repertoire ? destined for installation on a new military tanker. When the ship is sailing, the thruster will be retracted and not in use. Its use on the ship will include:? As a thruster when the ship is in Dynamic Positioning mode.? As a transverse bowthruster when retracted? As a ?homecoming? device that ? in the event that main propulsion is lost ? can help the ship navigate away from trouble and back home.This project is notable, too, as it fea-tures the company?s next-generation control system, which incorporates the latest in touch screen, multi-function and multi-layer technologies that is aimed to make thruster operations more precise, safe and efÞ cient.ZF Marine Krimpen b.v. When ZF took over in 2009, HRP Thruster Systems B.V. was at a crossroads. It was faced with investing heavily in infrastructure and people to grow its organi- zation to a level where it was capable internationally, or it needed to link up with an organization that already had the global network in place. ZF was the perfect partner in this regard, as it had the established network of sales and service in place, as well as the engineering horsepower and organizational structure to grow the thruster business quickly and effectively. ?Essentially, we went from a small company to a big company, and the way in which we view and approach the market is signiÞ cantly different,? said Frank van der Vegt, Sales Manager, Commercial Craft Thruster Systems, ZF Marine Krimpen B.V. ?For example, we could have never pulled off what we did in the Americas market ? the penetration of the inland tow boat market ? as a small company. This Þ t was good for ZF Group as well, a privately owned indus- trial behemoth with $22.4 billion and 72,643 employees at the end of 2013 that wanted to add this technology to its ZF Marine family of products.HRP has been in the thruster market since 1973, designing and producing a wide range of steerable thrusters for all types of marine applications.The 2MW Retractable Azimuth Thruster ? the largest retractable unit in the ZF Marine Krimpen repertoire ? for installation on a new U.K. military tanker. The company?s next-generation thruster control system.MR #8 (64-73).indd 66MR #8 (64-73).indd 668/7/2014 3:57:16 PM8/7/2014 3:57:16 PM