Aegir to introduce remanufacturing with decades-old thruster refurb

Remanufacturing is the process of returning a used product or component back to its ‘as new’ performance specifications. Remanufacturing can significantly prolong the lifespan of products, and thus yields economic as well as environmental advantages.

The Motorship notes the remanufacturing concept has become popular in some western European countries in consumer good supply chains as an element of the so-called Circular Economy. One of the objectives of the project will be to produce results that are both scientifically sound and approved by Classification Societies, as remanufacturing is a new concept for the maritime industry.

The project, the first to be undertaken by the Maritime Remanufacturing Network (MRN) project since it was established in Q1 2023, will be a case study using two identical tunnel thrusters. “We will be reconditioning one of these thrusters, bringing back its components to within the tolerances of its original manufacturer,” says Aegir Marine owner Ruud Muis. “We will remanufacture the second thruster, bringing it back to its ‘as new’ state – this is something that has never been done before in the maritime industry.”

The scientific foundation was researched by TU Delft and documented in an independent white paper. 

In addition to addressing the technical challenges of remanufacturing, the MRN intends to increase awareness of the benefits of remanufacturing to the widest public and political audience possible.