<p>In the first quarter of 2022, MV Moorea and MV Messina, Universe Shipping's two new inland tankers with a shallow water design by RensenDriessen Shipbuilding, will enter service. Both ships are equipped with a familiar system that has recently been re-emerging: the retractable RMS 2000 V, the active rotor manoeuvring system from Damen Marine Components. "This will allow us to navigate safer, more economically and environmentally friendly." </p><p>After 27 years as an inland shipping captain, Marc Stok exchanged the wheelhouse in 2020 for the Universe Shipping office in Zwijndrecht, where he is a Fleet Manager and jointly responsible for the 17 tankers that fall under the inland shipping organisation. And two more will be added soon: the Moorea and the Messina, 135 metres long and 11.45 metres wide.</p><p>Both tankers have a lightweight shallow-water hull (MoneyMaker 3.0 type) that was developed by RensenDriessen Shipbuilding. State-of-the-art and in keeping with today's demands, when the low water levels on the Rhine require new solutions. But when Marc Stok started looking for ways to make the new ships even safer and environmentally friendly, he finally arrived at a product that has been around for several decades: the Van der Velden® RMS Rotor Manoeuvring System from Damen Marine Components (DMC). </p><p>DMC's rotor manoeuvring system is based on the principle of the Magnus effect. By placing a rapidly rotating cylinder in approaching water, the resulting pressure difference creates a lifting force. This lifting force, or lateral thrust, is greater than with conventional rotors and ensures that the bow is much more manoeuvrable. Due to the increasingly important energy transition, this technique is now being used again. Designations such as Flettner Rotor, Magnus effect and all sorts of other forms of using rotating poles on ships to aid propulsion are widely used.</p><p>The Moorea and Messina are currently being completed at Dolderman in Dordrecht, after the hulls have been built in China and Russia respectively. Both tankers will enter service during the first quarter of 2022. They will be navigating the Rhine and will be equipped as double propellers with two smaller screws and four matching rudders, so they can still be used at low water levels. "Less rudder effect at low speed because the rudders flow is less, certainly in comparison with a larger propeller and suitable 2-rudder system, while you still have to keep a ship of the same size on course. Hence Universe's choice for the rotors," says Leo van Zon.</p>
<p>In the first quarter of 2022, MV Moorea and MV Messina, Universe Shipping's two new inland tankers with a shallow water design by RensenDriessen Shipbuilding, will enter service. Both ships are equipped with a familiar system that has recently been re-emerging: the retractable RMS 2000 V, the active rotor manoeuvring system from Damen Marine Components. "This will allow us to navigate safer, more economically and environmentally friendly." </p><p>After 27 years as an inland shipping captain, Marc Stok exchanged the wheelhouse in 2020 for the Universe Shipping office in Zwijndrecht, where he is a Fleet Manager and jointly responsible for the 17 tankers that fall under the inland shipping organisation. And two more will be added soon: the Moorea and the Messina, 135 metres long and 11.45 metres wide.</p><p>Both tankers have a lightweight shallow-water hull (MoneyMaker 3.0 type) that was developed by RensenDriessen Shipbuilding. State-of-the-art and in keeping with today's demands, when the low water levels on the Rhine require new solutions. But when Marc Stok started looking for ways to make the new ships even safer and environmentally friendly, he finally arrived at a product that has been around for several decades: the Van der Velden® RMS Rotor Manoeuvring System from Damen Marine Components (DMC). </p><p>DMC's rotor manoeuvring system is based on the principle of the Magnus effect. By placing a rapidly rotating cylinder in approaching water, the resulting pressure difference creates a lifting force. This lifting force, or lateral thrust, is greater than with conventional rotors and ensures that the bow is much more manoeuvrable. Due to the increasingly important energy transition, this technique is now being used again. Designations such as Flettner Rotor, Magnus effect and all sorts of other forms of using rotating poles on ships to aid propulsion are widely used.</p><p>The Moorea and Messina are currently being completed at Dolderman in Dordrecht, after the hulls have been built in China and Russia respectively. Both tankers will enter service during the first quarter of 2022. They will be navigating the Rhine and will be equipped as double propellers with two smaller screws and four matching rudders, so they can still be used at low water levels. "Less rudder effect at low speed because the rudders flow is less, certainly in comparison with a larger propeller and suitable 2-rudder system, while you still have to keep a ship of the same size on course. Hence Universe's choice for the rotors," says Leo van Zon.</p>
