Nuyina’s first spin
Video transcript
ROB BRYSON: Which is about testing the propulsion system of the ship. So this is the very first stage of that.
So what we did in the beginning of this milestone is we rotated the propeller for about four revolutions over a period of about two minutes, which doesn’t sound like much, but when you think about it, the advanced electric drive was turning about 120 tonnes of high tensile steel. So that includes 43.5 tonnes of propeller plus another 80 tonnes of shaft lines.
The propulsion system is the beating heart of the vessel. That’s what actually provides the forward movement of the vessel and the power, so without a propulsion system you don’t really have a ship, and it’s just a static dumb barge. So having that working is a significant event for us and provides a lot of power for Nuyina and she’ll probably be the most powerful icebreaker in Antarctica when she goes online at the end of this year.
