Grimaldi orders five more Promas Light retrofits

Grande Nigeria, one of five PCTCs to be retrofitted with the Promas Light system

MARCH 30, 2015 — Just seven months after signing a contract to retrofit the Rolls-Royce Promas Light integrated rudder propeller system to ten Finnlines Ro-Ro vessels, Grimaldi Lines is to upgrade five Grande-class Pure Care Truck Carriers (PCTC) with the fuel-saving technology.

The PCTCs are the Grande Nigeria, Grande Amburgo, Grande San Paolo, Grande Francia and Grande Buenos Aires.

“The retrofitting of the Promas Lite system to our Ro-Ro vessels last year proved a huge success and a major step forward in our strategic objective to improve energy efficiency across the fleet,” said Grimaldi Group Corporate Technical Director Paolo Satariano. “Rolling out the system to other vessel types in the Group was an easy decision to make and our PCTCs will now benefit from this innovative technology.”

“The extensive experience that Rolls-Royce has in this area, together with the retrofit services the company can provide, will greatly help us during the engineering and installation phases of this upgrade program,” he added.

Grimaldi Group’s experience of the system aboard Norlink, one of the Finnlines ferries upgraded in May 2014, has shown that a 20% increase in fuel efficiency can be achieved, with a return on investment of about two years.

Promas Lite is a version of the successful Rolls-Royce Promas integrated propeller and rudder system, designed specifically as an upgrade for vessels already in service.

The upgrade consists of three main components: a bulb which is attached to the forward edge of the rudder; a hubcap which is bolted to the rear of the propeller; and a set of redesigned propeller blades. Each Promas Lite system is engineered to each vessel’s specific requirement.

In addition to the supply and retrofit of the five Promas Lite units, Rolls-Royce will also supply five next-generation touch-screen CanMan control units and a spare propeller hub.

Delivery of the upgrade packages for the five Grimaldi Line vessels will take place from June this year.

Lars Blomberg, Rolls-Royce, Contract Manager, said: “We model each solution using extensive in-house computational fluid dynamics (CFD) capabilities at the Rolls-Royce Hydrodynamic Research Center to ensure that each design is perfectly matched to the hull and specified operating profile. This results in a bespoke system that is not only cost effective to run, but one that significantly increases a vessel’s hydrodynamic capability.”

Klas Nygren, Rolls-Royce, Sales Manager Promas, said: “We are pleased that the Grimaldi Group sees the Promas Lite as a cost-effective solution for reducing fuel consumption and meeting emissions abatement regulations. With the success of the Promas Lite upgrades to the Finnlines’ ferries, this new contract suggests that fuel savings continue to form a significant part of a shipowner’s business plan, despite falling bunker fuel prices.”