OCTOBER 4, 2013 —At the end of August, MAN Diesel & Turbo  signed an agreement Dalian Marine Propeller Co., Ltd (DMMP) — part of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) Group— that allows  DMMP to produce and sell MAN Alpha Kappel design propellers in China.

Five-bladed MAN Alpha propeller with Kappel tip fin design

Torben Johansen, Head of Propeller & Aft Ship, MAN Diesel & Turbo, said: "This agreement will greatly help us to penetrate the FP propeller market with our highly efficient Kappel design principle as DMMP is among the major suppliers of large-scale propellers for Chinese shipbuilding."

The agreement is already bearing fruit. DMMP has signed a Kappel design propeller contract with Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry Co. Ltd  that will see the propellers used in three 8,500 CEU PCTCs (Pure Car/Truck Carrier), the largest of their kind in the world, ordered by Höegh Autoliners, the leading global provider of Ro/Ro vehicle transportation services.

Tank tests on different propeller configurations displayed the Kappel design's superior efficiency compared to other propellers.

Acquired by MAN Diesel & Turbo in 2012, Kappel propeller blade designs offer fuel savings of up to 6%, compared to conventional designs. Notably, this improvement in efficiency is related to blade design alone.

Compared to a conventional design the Kappel propellers have shown lower pressure impulses which can be utilized for bigger and more efficient propellers because of the reduced clearance between hull and propeller tip.