Rudder and steering system

There are dozens of different rudder styles available – some with articulating flaps, others with pronounced fishtail profiles – and all are designed to improve the rate of turn in close quarter manoeuvres, but then they have the disadvantage of creating drag when steaming, may be less able to hold a course, or may have complicated hinges to fail. Our priority is reliability and to keep directional stability whilst at sea because close quarter manoeuvrability is achieved via the comprehensive thruster system. We, therefore, opted for a simple, huge, solidly built rudder.

Driving such a large rudder requires a robust steering system. A commercial Electro-Hydraulic system from Scan AS is installed along with an independent manual backup system.