Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Grimaldi Group has returned to Rolls-Royce with an order for five more Promas Lite upgrades just seven months after signing a contract to retrofit the integrated rudder propeller system to ten Ro-Ro (roll-on, roll-off) vessels operating under the Group's Finnlines brand.

Grimaldi Lines will now upgrade five Grande-class Pure Care Truck Carriers (PCTC) Grande Nigeria, Grande Amburgo, Grande San Paolo, Grande Francia and Grande Buenos Aries - with the fuel-saving technology.

Paolo Satariano, Grimaldi Group, Corporate Technical Director, said: "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. 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."

He added: "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 programme."

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 Centre 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."

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 a bespoke solution 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.

About Rolls-Royce Holdings plc
  1. Rolls-Royce's vision is to create better power for a changing world via two main business divisions, Aerospace and Land & Sea. These business divisions address markets with two strong technology platforms, gas turbines and reciprocating engines. Aerospace comprises Civil Aerospace and Defence Aerospace. Land & Sea comprises Marine, Nuclear and Power Systems.
  2. Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 120 countries, comprising more than 380 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces, 4,000 marine customers including 70 navies, and more than 5,000 power and nuclear customers.
  3. Our business is focused on the 4Cs:
    • Customer - placing the customer at the heart of our business
    • Concentration - deciding where to grow and where not to
    • Cost - continually looking to increase efficiency
    • Cash - improving financial performance.
  4. Annual underlying revenue was £14.6 billion in 2014, around half of which came from the provision of aftermarket services. The firm and announced order book stood at £73.7 billion at the end of 2014.
  5. In 2014, Rolls-Royce invested £1.2 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 31 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research.
  6. Rolls-Royce employs over 54,000 people in more than 50 countries. Over 15,500 of these are engineers.
  7. The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills. In 2014 we employed 354 graduates and 357 apprentices through our worldwide training programmes. Globally we have over 1,000 Rolls-Royce STEM ambassadors who are actively involved in education programmes and activities; we have set ourselves a target to reach 6 million people through our STEM outreach activities by 2020.

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