The topic at the recent meeting of the New York Metropolitan Section of The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers — the annual joint get-together with The Society of Marine Port Engineers New York — was the re-engining of the four Seatrain Lines' Euroliner Class containerships.
In each of these four ships, the original gas turbine propulsion units were replaced with two Stork-Werkspoor nine-cylinder, medium-speed TM620 engines, each rated at 16,000 bhp when burning heavy fuel. Each engine drives a Lips controllable-pitch propeller at 90 rpm through single-reduction Lohmann and Stolterfoht gears. The conversion work was performed at the Ross yard of Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft of Hamburg.
The principal author was L.J. Neut, technical manager, Marine Division, Stork-Werkspoor Diesel, B.V. of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He was assisted in the presentation by Stork's P. van Oirschot and P. Wieske. The three men presented an interesting and informative description of the Seatrain conversions, including economic aspects, fuel considerations, testing of propeller designs by Lips, measurements at the Netherlands Ship Model Basin, and some operating experience.
Principals at recent joint meeting were (L to R): George Murphy, president of The Society of Marine Port Engineers New York, N.Y., Inc.; L.J. Neut, technical manager, Marine Division, Stork-Werkspoor Diesel, B.V. of Amsterdam, Holland, author; and Eric Lithen, chairman of the New York Metropolitan Section of SNAME.