This Cascade General innovation automatically ensures a perfect fit for the flared thruster mouth on the convex curve of the bow plating. Four frames and three decks were cut back to create the thruster aperture and motor room. The 5-ton ABB electric motor was lifted from a trailer by Cascade General's rigging crew, hauled into the thruster aperture in the bulbous bow, and hoisted up and secured on a temporary base. The riggers then expertly maneuvered the 5.5-ton thruster inside the bow using an array of pneumatic and hand tackles. It was carefully lowered into place by these shipyard specialists while work continued on the decks above to convert a forecastle ballast tank into the motor room with all required lighting, cooling and alarm systems.
Ventilation ducting for the compartments passes through the bosun's storeroom to the foredeck.
The only available position for the additional stern thruster, weighing in at 4.5 tons, was in a supplementary fuel tank just two feet below the bottom of an elevator shaft. However, because of the short lead time, both thrusters arrived from KaMeWa's Swedish headquarters without the necessary tunnel extensions. Extensive steel removals included three frames, the centerline bulkhead and a horizontal baffle. Accesses were opened through two bulkheads and the ceiling, then the entire space was steam-cleaned and blasted. Structural reinforcement from the keel up was necessary to absorb the thruster system's 1510 kW maximum output and integrate it into the existing structure.