During the World Ocean Council’s (WOC’s) fourth Sustainable Ocean Summit held last week in Rotterdam, Thordon Bearings’ Director of Marketing and Customer Service, Craig Carter, took centre stage to explain that the 45,000 vessels using oil-lubricated shaft bearings today are leaking the equivalent of five Exxon Valdez oil spills into the ocean every year.
According to Carter, 130 to 244 million litres of operational oil is released into the ocean every year by oil-lubricated shaft bearings, raising the question of whether ocean sustainability can really be reached with the continued use of such systems.
According to Carter, seawater lubricated propeller shafts offer a zero pollution solution, with major classification societies now revising their shaft withdrawal and inspection regimes thanks to the technology that allows full monitoring of a seawater system.
During his presentation to the WOC Carter commented: “Ship owners have a decision to make – continue to use oil systems that have the potential to pollute and may not meet pollution regulations or return to seawater lubrication. Since we started installing seawater lubricated bearing systems in the early 1990s, we have prevented over 62 million litres of oil being discharged into our oceans and seas. Isn’t it time we prevented propeller shaft discharges of oil from all commercial ships?”
Image: Craig Carter, Head of Marketing and Customer Service, Thordon Bearings
Ship Efficiency Review News
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