High-lift rudders for Arklow singledeckers

Arklow Shipping and Ferus Smit opted to amend the original design for NXA fishtail rudders in response to feedback from Arklow’s captains and superintendents. In particular, its captains and superintendents expressed a strong preference for the capability of crabbing; the ability of a ship to move sideways without moving forwards.

“An understandable wish,” says Marnix de Bruijn, sales manager of Damen Marine Components. “Especially the ships from the 8,500DWT series need a lot of lateral movements, because they commute from port to port and have to manoeuvre a lot.”

The six vessels in the 8,500dwt series have been fitted with Van der Velden BARKE high-lift flap rudders. With the progressive rotating flap, the BARKE rudder generates high lifting forces at large rudder angles and low drag at small rudder angles. This aids in lateral shifting.

The last of the six vessels, Arklow Artist, is currently being outfitted at the Ferus Smit shipyard in Westerbroek, the Netherlands. The first five ships in this series, Arklow Abbey, Accord, Ace, Archer and Arrow, are now in service.

The shipowner’s series of four 16,500dwt vessels were also equipped with Van der Velden rudders, although MASTER rudders were selected in order to meet challenging delivery deadlines. With rudder angles of up to 65°, this fishtail rudder provides high lift. The design can be optimised for many different types of ships.

In addition to the rudders, the ten Arklow vessels are also equipped with the Van der Velden® COMMANDER Rotary Vane steering system, including hydraulic power unit (HPU) and the Damen Marine Components control system.

The Motorship previously reported on Arklow Shipping’s series of singledeckers here.