BBVA TRADE (a subsidiary of the manor Spanish Bank, BBVA) and SISTEMAR signed a collaboration agreement to market the CLT propellers developed by SISTEMAR.

From now on, BBVA TRADE and SISTEMAR will offer to their clients very attractive financing conditions by virtue of which, the expenses derived from the design and manufacturing of the CLT propeller/blades could be paid through a financial scheme defined in accordance with the savings to be achieved in the fuel costs of the ship due to the higher efficiency of the CLT propeller.

BBVA TRADE is a foreign trade company, founded in 1985, and belongs 100% to BBVA.

Its core business has been to develop and conduct international trade operations and to provide services to exporters and importers in different countries, with a special emphasis on Spanish companies.

BBVA TRADE has offices in Cuba, Indonesia, China, Mexico and Vietnam, but of course, it takes advantage of the wide presence of BBVA Group in 35 countries and has a very wide network of commercial agents and representatives worldwide.

The major activities of BBVA TRADE can be summarised under the following items:

• Commercial assistance and management.
• Financial assistance and management.
• Direct participation in the operation.

Shipbuilding is just one of the main fields of activity of BBVA TRADE, but there are other sectors as food and agriculture, complete industrial production lines and equipment, electricity generation, transmission and distribution, oil and gas pipelines, etc.

Concerning the agreement BBVA TRADE – SISTEMAR, the items to be managed by BBVA TRADE are the following:

• Commercial promotion:
  • New markets aperture.
  • Advertising and promotional actions.
  • Identification of potential clients.

• Financial structure:
  • Obtains the financing for the fabrication of the product to be supplied.
  • Provides the guarantees requested for the supply.
  • Controls the charge/payment flow of the operation.
  • Checks the financial and commercial capacity of the parties involved in the operation.

The items to be managed by SISTEMAR are the following:

• Technical subjects:
  • Design and technical details of the propellers.
  • Co-ordination and execution of all types of model tests, sea trials, etc.
  • Provides its own licences for the manufacturing of the propellers.
  • Surveys the final geometry of the propeller prior to its delivery.

There are some items to be managed jointly by BBVA TRADE and SISTEMAR:

• Projects execution:
  • Identification of new operations.
  • Negotiation with the final client and with the propeller manufacturer.
  • Joint presentation of the offer.
  • Logistic co-ordination for the supply and installation of the propeller.

The main advantage for the client derived from this scheme of co-operation is that BBVA TRADE participates directly in the operation, acting as principal, providing the financing and guarantee conditions requested and manages the charge/payment flow.

The supply of the propeller is structured under a “turn key” basis.

The joint participation of BBVA TRADE and SISTEMAR provides to the client financial, commercial and technical solvency for the supply carried out under the basis of a joint offer.

The Spanish Shipping Company DISTRIBUIDORA MARITIMA PETROGAS has ordered to RMK MARINE in Turkey two oil product tankers of 4300 DWT and 6750 DWT.

Both vessels will be equipped with CLT blades fitted on CP hubs from BERG PROPULSION AB.

PETROGAS has a satisfactory experience with the performance of the CLT propellers installed on other vessels of their fleet, the 4000 DWT tanker “Mencey” retrofitted in 1988 with a monoblock CLT propeller and the 9425 DWT product tanker “Hespérides”, delivered by UNION NAVAL VALENCIA in 1997 and fitted with CLT blades on a KAMEWA CP hub.

A third order for another 4300 DWT tanker has been recently confirmed by PETROGAS.

After the successful results obtained with the 2900 m3 capacity tuna purse seiner “Txori-Toki”, delivered in 2000 by ASTILLEROS MURUETA to INPESCA, fitted with CLT blades on a CP WÄRTSILA hub, a new order has been received for the sistership newbuilding 240 of ASTILLEROS MURUETA also for INPESCA.

For the newbuilding 214 of ASTILLEROS MURUETA for ATUNSA, also CLT blades have been ordered.

The lift forces acting on the CLT propellers/blades are modelled through the Momentum Theory and predicted as a result of the increment of the momentum that the water receives when it passes through the propeller blades.

SISTEMAR has developed a new type of mean lines looking for a maximum increase of the momentum that the cascades of the propeller blades annular section gives to the water.

With this new type of mean lines applied on CLT propellers, the results obtained at full scale are even better than those that could be expected with CLT propellers with standard mean lines.

Because of the noticeable differences of performance found, it may be defined as second generation of CLT propeller those designed with the new mean lines while the CLT propellers designed with a standard NACA mean lines are defined as the first generation.

With the second generation of CLT propellers, the underpressure existing on the suction side of the blades is even lower than the one corresponding to a first generation of CLT propeller, and therefore, the volume of sheet cavitation developed on the blades decreases even more and consequently the levels of hull pressure pulses are lower.

On the other hand, with the second generation of CLT propeller the overpressure existing on the pressure side of the blades increases even more than in the case of a first generation of CLT propeller, leading to an increase in the propeller open water efficiency.

The Spanish Association of Shipping Companies (ANAVE) arranged in November 1990 a presentation on the experience of different Spanish shipping companies, members of ANAVE, with CLT propellers installed on their ships at said time.

As a consequence of said meeting, some other important members of ANAVE decided to install CLT propellers on their fleets.

In June 2003, ANAVE invited to SISTEMAR to present to their members a summary of the evolution experienced by the CLT propeller since the first presentation carried out in 1990.

During this new meeting, SISTEMAR representatives, Dr. Pérez Gómez and Mr. González-Adalid, explained the advantages that can be obtained with the installation of CLT propellers and presented a summary of the actual experience in service with this kind of propellers, describing some relevant applications of many different ship types.

The representative of the major Spanish Shipbuilding Group IZAR, Mr. Pérez Sobrino, explained to the members of ANAVE the research and development projects on CLT propellers carried out by IZAR, CEHIPAR and SISTEMAR.

The major goals derived from those R&D projects have been the extrapolation procedure developed for the analysis of model test results carried out with CLT propellers as well as the development of a new procedure for the realization of cavitation tests with CLT propeller models.

Finally, Mr. Bacigalupe, from BBVA TRADE, presented to the members of ANAVE the major points of the co-operation agreement established between BBVA TRADE and SISTEMAR by virtue of which the CLT propellers will be offered including very attractive financing conditions as well as including a guarantee on its satisfactory performance.

The meeting finalized with the contribution of Mr. Carlier, General Director of ANAVE, who expressed his gratitude to all the participants and announced the distribution of the presentations among all the members of ANAVE.