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MAN Diesel & Turbo’s Propeller & Aft Ship organisation has won an order to retrofit and upgrade a series of eleven 37,500 dwt vessels from the Odfjell chemical tanker fleet.

The vessels are of the Kværner Class and are due to dock during 2015-17, at which time the upgrades will be implemented. The first vessel, ‘M/T Bow Clipper’, will dock and be upgraded in August 2015.

Each vessel has an MAN B&W two-stroke engine powering a four-bladed, controllable-pitch propeller and a PTO-driven shaft alternator.

According to MAN, the vessels’ new service speed at reduced main-engine output – combined with the implementation of MAN’s highly-efficient Kappel propeller blades, a fairing cone and a pre-fabricated rudder bulb kit – will all contribute to power savings and reduced exhaust-gas emissions.

“It’s a very exciting project and we are proud to be part of it. With our new design possibilities, we are furthermore looking forward to offering this fuel-saving concept to other fleets with similar operational patterns,” said Kjartan Ross, Business Development Manager of MAN Diesel & Turbo’s Propeller & Aft Ship organisation.

“With the long lifetime expectancy of Odfjell’s high value, quality vessels, this upgrade investment is straightforward and very attractive”.

Odfjell embarked on the Kværner Class newbuilding programme of 37,500 dwt ships with 52 fully-segregated stainless-steel tanks and piping systems in 1991. The first such vessel was delivered in 1994 and the new series was packed with new technology: controllable pitch propellers, shaft alternators on main engines, bow thrusters, fixed tank-cleaning machines and radar positioned in each tank to gauge ullage.

The following Kværner Class vessels are scheduled for upgrade: Bow Flower, Bow Clipper, Bow Fortune, Bow Cecil, Bow Flora, Bow Cardinal, Bow Faith, Bow Cedar, Bow Fagus, Bow Chain and Bow Firda.