Greek shipowner Minerva Marine has replaced the greased bronze mooring winch bearing on board the Aframax ‘Minerva Hellen’ with Thordon Bearings ThorPlas-Blue. The company said that it is now planning to apply the grease-free alternative bearings to other vessels in the fleet. Superintendent engineer, Dimitrios Mastorakis, said: “Since replacing the bronze bearing more than two years ago we have eliminated the costs and maintenance associated with the constant application of grease. We are very pleased with the ThorPlas-Blue product and plan to use it on other vessels.” Craig Carter, Thordon Bearings’ head of marketing and customer service, said: “One of main benefits of ThorPlas-Blue is the amount of time it saves ships’ crew. Crews no longer need to grease the winch bearings and since they don’t wear out, maintenance is negligible, leaving the crew to get on with other jobs.” ThorPlas-Blue bearings can be easily machined and installed quickly into a variety of applications where greased bronze bearings are traditionally installed. They can also be supplied as a split spherical bearing (SSB) for use in rudder and steering gear systems to counter the alignment problems typical of hydraulic steering systems. They can be applied to all lifeboat and tender davit systems; fairleads, which can have a huge impact on mooring ropes that wear quickly; tiller arms and jockey bars; cranes and hoists; pivot point bushings; winches, capstans, watertight doors and hatches. “Aside from the obvious safety and environmental benefits, use of the ThorPlas-Blue product facilitates a smoother more reliable operation of deck machinery since seized bearings from inadequate greasing is no longer an issue,” said Scott Groves, Thordon Bearings’ business development manager. “This also reduces operational costs, given that a seized bearing would often result in the need to replace expensive rope or cables. Piston and cylinder damage and subsequent mechanical failure arising from increased levels of vibration is also avoided. Shipowners also save on the costs associated with the purchase, storage and disposal of grease,” he added. Visitors to next week’s Posidonia will be able to find out more about both COMPAC and ThorPlas-Blue by visiting Thordon Bearings at Booth 3.111 with the Greek distributor, Technava.