On May 5, 2023, the Swedish-Swiss company ABB announced that it had received a contract from the Spanish shipbuilding association Navantia to replace the Siemens-Schottel SSP-10 propeller-steering columns (VRK) produced by the Siemens Group on the universal landing ship L 61 Juan Carlos I of the Spanish Navy with propeller-steering columns produced by ABB-Azipod propellers. The work will be carried out in Spain and should be completed in 2025. This will be the first case of replacing the VRK type on such a large ship.
Spanish universal landing ship L 61 Juan Carlos I (c) David Acosta AllelyThe Siemens-Schottel SSP-10 SRCs (with a capacity of 11 MW each) were manufactured by Siemens Schuckert Werke (SSW) Fähr- und Spezialschiffbau GmbH in Bremerhaven.
Installed according to the original design on the Juan Carlos I universal amphibious assault ship (UDC), these Siemens-Schottel SSP-10 RCCs have shown their low reliability during the operation of the ship since its commissioning by the Spanish fleet in 2008. Problems with the Siemens-Schottel SSP-10 VRK were also experienced by both Australian UDC L 01 Adelaide and L 02 Canberra built according to the same Juan Carlos I project, which were commissioned in 2014-2015. It can be noted that the Siemens-Schottel SSP-10 VRCS are also installed on the Turkish L 400 Anadolu UDC built according to the same project and commissioned in April 2023.Due to the constant problems of the propellers, in 2020 Navantia issued an ABB contract to investigate the possibility of installing new VRCS on Juan Carlos I. Now, in its development, a contract has been issued to replace the VRCS with the ABB Azipod.
As you know, ABB (which arose as a result of the merger in 1988 of the Swedish company ASEA and the Swiss Brown, Boveri & Cie) with its Azipod design became a pioneer in the introduction of VRK on ships, the first in the world to begin their installation in 1990. ABB states that for more than 30 years of operation, Azipod systems have shown a technical readiness coefficient of 99.8%.
Screw steering columns-Siemens-Schottel SSP-10 propellers on the Spanish universal landing ship L 61 Juan Carlos I (c) Siemens
