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Latest Press Releases
New Cruise Ship 3 Months Ahead of Schedule
 Tuesday, December 22, 2009 - The brand new
American Cruise Lines ship, Independence, being built at Chesapeake
Shipbuilding, was taken on its first underway trials yesterday.
This important milestone trial occurred three months ahead of
schedule. Maneuvering and equipment tests were performed successfully
while the ship was underway in the Wicomico River.
American Cruise Lines will run the Independence on 7-14 night
cruises beginning on June 12, 2009 with 102 passengers on the
East Coast. The ship has a number of important differences from
other ships that Chesapeake has built for American Cruise Lines,
including a wider beam and active wing stabilizers. The wider
beam will allow for larger staterooms, public spaces and private
balconies.
The Independence is equipped with twin Caterpillar C-32 main
engines putting out nearly 1,500 horsepower each, and bow and stern thrusters from Thrustmaster of
Texas. The ship also has three 250kw Caterpillar C-9
generators, a 100kw Cummins generator and Rolls Royce Aquarius
50 active wing stabilizers.
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Thrustmaster of Texas, Inc. posts outlook for 2010
 In
an article regarding the outook for 2010 for the marine industry
from Holland
Ship Building Magazine, Thrustmaster president Joe Bekker
is interviewed regarding Thrustmaster's outlook for 2010.
Amid the doom and gloom articles that seem to be dominating
our industry Mr. Bekker puts a positive note into the article
as we prepare to enter 2010. In addition to the positive outlook
Mr. Bekker also announces the addition of an investment in Hybrid
Propulsion Systems and strong alliances in Ice Class applications
for Arctic and other Ice Class vessels.
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Thrustmaster Trains Napro Service Employees
In November 2009 personnel from Napro (Brazil) attended training
on hydraulic and other thruster issues at the Thrustmaster Factory
Training Center in Houston.
Sessions included time in the classroom as well as hands-on
sessions in the factory.
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Holland Shipbuilding Magazine Features Thrustmaster
 In conjunction
with two trade shows these past few months (one in Scotland and
the other in Rotterdam) Holland Shipbuilding Magazine featured Thrustmaster
in several well written articles. Special focus was given on
Dutch native Joe (Jos) Bekker, President of the company and the
new factory.
Setting up the articles Thrustmaster Europe, B.V.'s manager,
Hans Hoek took special pride in the fact that Joe hails from
Holland. Hans played a pivotal role in setting up the European
shows which helped increase Thrustmaster's visibility to the
North Sea market.
 With over 800
exhibitors and the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Jan Peter
Balkenende appearing at the AHOY ROTTERDAM 09 show, it was still
no surprise that Joe Bekker was the only Thruster Manufacturer
to be interviewed for the shows hallmark video that played to
arriving visitors. His optimism shows in this interview with
film makers as the Rotterdam show proved to be one of the busiest
in years.
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 Graham
Gulf: Bigger is Better
- Earlier this year C&G Boat Works Inc. launched the Gulf
Princess for owner Graham Gulf.
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- Originally conceived as a 175 by 34-foot vessel the decision
was made during construction to add a ten foot extension bringing
the vessel length to 185-feet.
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- The original power package was retained. This included four
1800-horsepower Cummins KTA50-M main engines turning 48-inch
propellers through ZF 4650 gears with 2.5:1 reduction.
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- A Cummins 6CTA8.3DM engine powers the Thrustmaster TH250RT retractable bow thruster.
Two Cummins 85 KW 6BTA5.9DM/Newage generator sets supply the
vessels electrical requirements.
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- The Gulf Princess is DP-1 rated. A sister vessel, to be named
the Sybil Graham, is currently in build for delivery in the third
quarter of 2009. The Sybil Graham will be classed DP-2.
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  ADG-EG.COM (Arab Development Group) sent
us this picture from an Egyptian news paper highlighting Egyptian
Engineering Day in Al-Azhar Conference Center, Nasr City,
Cairo, on 26th, 27th& 28th July 2008.
In the foreground is one of hundreds of self contained hydraulic
thrusters (shown right) produced by Thrustmaster for the Egyptian
Government.
***"The IEEE Egyptian Engineering Day is the annual nexus
for IEEE engineers in Egypt, organized by the IEEE Egypt GOLD
Affinity Group in conjunction with the Arab Academy for Science
& Technology. This event is an opportunity for electrical,
electronic, computer, biomedical, chemical & mechanical engineering
professionals to meet new associates in the field, share ideas,
collaborate on their graduation projects and learn something
new. It is the place where industry and university enter a win
to win situation."
- ***Source: ieeegoldegypt.org
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Chesapeake Shipbuilding Corp in Salisbury, Maryland has delivered
the “Woodside” Car Ferry to the State of Delaware.
It is the third ferry that Chesapeake Shipbuilding has designed
and built at its Salisbury facility.
The Ferry is the only car ferry operated by the Delaware Department
of Transportation and has operated at the Woodside site for over
200 years.
• Length o.a. 94 ft
• Beam 31 ft
• Draft 2.5 ft
• Hull 4 ft
• Powered by Thrustmaster hydraulic
tunnel drives and ramps
Chesapeake Shipbuilding has over 30 years of industry experience
and designs and builds commercial ships up to 300 feet in length,
with specialization in the design and construction of passenger
vessels, tugboats, ferry boats, etc.
Chesapeake Shipbuilding’s construction yard is located
on 13 acres of level land, with nearly 2000 feet of deepwater
bulkhead, along the protected waters of Maryland’s Wicomico
River. It has 2 construction basins, 3 level construction/side
launch systems, plus a ground transfer system and various hull
fabrication buildings and shops.
Chesapeake Shipbuilding offers long-term career opportunities
with room for growth.
(http://www.chesapeakeshipbuilding.com/)
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 Thrustmaster
Named Fastest Growing Manufacturing Company
Highlighting this years Fastest-Growing Private Companies,
Inc. Magazine has named Thrustmaster of Texas, Inc. as the fastest
growing privately owned manufacturing company in the USA.
"How He Did It" feature in Inc.com Magazine.
The rating is derived by comparing revenues between 2004 and
2007 where Thrustmaster saw an increase of 1,456.7%.
Contracts and forecasts in 2008 have already exceeded the
2007 record year. "Now we're experiencing our fastest growth
yet. Increased oil prices have helped in that they have given
the oil companies the profit, and the incentive to start looking
for new locations for oil and gas, and that has dramatically
increased the demand for our product," says founder and
president, Joe Bekker.
With an order backlog in excess of 250 million dollars, primarily
for thrusters used in dynamic positioning applications, Thrustmaster
is building a brand new 200,000 square foot manufacturing plant
for production of thrusters in sizes up to 6,000kW (8,000hp)
each. This new factory, which will be completely climate controlled,
will be the largest of its kind in the world. A large test basin,
holding 15 million gallons of water, is set up for full load
testing before shipment of all products.
Thrustmaster designs and builds tunnel thrusters, azimuth
thrusters, and retractable thrusters for commercial ships, platforms,
and barges. The company quickly developed into one of the world's
leading suppliers of thrusters for drill ships, semi-submersibles,
harbor tugs, OSV's, and accommodation barges. Thrustmaster is
headquartered in Houston, Texas and has its own service centers
in Singapore, Dubai, Rotterdam, and China.
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Thrustmaster of Texas, Inc. Signs 10
Million USD Contract
 From
the floor of the 2007 New Orleans Workboat Show, Thrustmaster
of Texas, Inc. signed a 10 Million USD contract to deliver 18
azimuth Z-drives for pusher tugs operating in South American
river transportation.
Houston based Thrustmaster of Texas,
Inc. is a global leader in development of propulsion systems
and azimuth thrusters for dynamic positioning.
Official Press Release
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Thrustmaster of Texas, Inc. Supplies
Outboard Propulsion to British Military Unit
 Thrustmaster of Texas, Inc. is currently
working with the British Navy to deliver 33-150 HP Skid Pack
outboard propulsion units for special modular barge operations.
The freely azimuthing self contained
outdrive propulsion systems can be moved from module to module
as needed for transporting troops, tanks, and tactical military
vehicles and can be tilted up to 180 degrees allowing the operator
to quickly clear obstructions.
Official Press Release
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Frontier Drilling Orders DNV Class
Propulsion Units from Thrustmaster of Texas, Inc.
Thrustmaster of Texas, Inc. (www.thrustmastertexas.com)
has contracted with Frontier Drilling to deliver six TH6000ML
DNV class mechanical azimuthing thrusters.
The 6000hp (4500kW) units are also part
of Thrustmaster of Texas, Inc. growth into supplying primary
Dynamic Positioning propulsion and station keeping capabilities
to the offshore semi- submersible market. Engineering and components
will be started in the current facility and completed in the
new 200,000 square foot facility in mid-2009.
Official Press Release
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Thrustmaster of Texas, Inc. is the largest
U.S. based manufacturer of bow thrusters and Z-drives for the
marine industry, is breaking ground on a new 60 acre, 200,000
square foot factory near it’s current location in Houston,
Texas. The new factory is scheduled for opening by year end 2008.
With overhead cranes up to 100 ton capacity,
the new facility will produce thrusters in the range of 100 to
6,000 HP (75 to 4,500 kW) for marine transportation, offshore
industries, and military craft applications.
Thrustmaster received new orders well
in excess of 100 million USD in 2007 of which 75 million USD
is for export outside the USA.
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