If sailors are said to have salt water coursing through their veins, then Sandy Thomson is keeping it moving with his propeller-driven innovations.

The founder and CEO of Thordon Bearings Inc., a Burlington-based supplier of environmentally friendly shaft and rudder-bearing systems, has had a love affair with shipping vessels for most of his 67 years - just about as long as his passion for preserving marine ecology.

And the marine sector has had an abiding image problem, Thomson says.

"During the last few decades, pollution of the world's oceans has become a matter of increasing international concern. A big portion stems not only from oil spills, but through vessel leakage from stern tubes."

Brennan O'Connor, Business Edge
Sandy Thomson is framed by a bearing slated to be used on a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker.

A study presented by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences at a marine environment conference held in Rotterdam in 2001 said that more than 70 per cent of oil and grease entering the seas from marine transportation is attributable to normal ship operations - primarily from loose-fitting or worn propeller shafts of the world's merchant fleets. Some estimates have put those emissions dribbling into the deep at about 10 million litres annually.

"That's very conservative numbers," says Thomson, whose own research indicates that about six litres are lost into the water from vessels' stern tubes each day.

Multiply that by 300 operating days (for most merchant ships) and again by the more than 45,400 merchants operating today (95 per cent of the 47,800 merchant world fleet has oil-lubricated stern tubes) and it totals more than 81 million litres annually.

"To put it in perspective, the Exxon Valdez Oil spill off the coast of Alaska in 1989 was 41.6 million litres," he says.

To trap the trickle, Thordon (a division of Thomson-Gordon Group, which also provides maintenance services for the aviation industry) has developed high-performance and wear-resistant tube systems that use seawater instead of grease and oil to lubricate the propeller shaft.

Now sold to shipyards in 75 countries, and available for new or retrofitted vessels, its Thor-Lube stern-tube bearings are a sealed system that virtually eliminates seepage.

Similar in principle to oil-lubricated systems, Thor-Lube consists of non-metallic Thordon XL bearings with a biodegradable water-based lubricant, branded TL3G, formulated to replace stern-tube oil.

Thomson says that after extensive marine toxicity testings, TL3G recently received seals of approval from Environment Canada and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States.

"Now our job is to convince Canada's ship owners that our systems are more cost effective than conventional shafts and lubricants through lower maintenance costs and reduced litigation expenses incurred by governments suing ship operators polluting their waters," Thomson says.

But the domestic maritime industry - which generates more than $98 billion for Canada in international trade annually and which has a workforce of about 100,000, according to Canada's Chamber of Maritime Commerce - is a cautious one, where early adopters of new technologies are rare.

"In Canada, ship owners tend to keep a wait-and-see attitude, staying sidelined until someone else's vessels try the technology and proves it works," Thomson says.

"The Canadian Coast Guard has added our bearings to their fleet, but our major single markets remain China and South Korea."

Peter Cairns, head of the Ottawa-based Shipbuilding Association of Canada, agrees that ship owners are cautious about tinkering with their multimillion-dollar floating investments. "It's more to do with economics than technophobia," he says. "Ours is a tough sector in which we compete on a global scale."

"Due to high operating and repair costs, owners' budgets are tight. South Korea and China offer their shipbuilders abundant government subsidies and strategic support, and now find themselves ready and equipped to take on the world. We can't say the same here," he says.

Innovations in marine transportation, especially those being developed in Canada, are to be applauded and encouraged, Cairns says. "We can certainly produce leading-edge products that could boost our fleet's international competitiveness. But that's what they are - niche products. Because much of today's shipbuilding is automated and modular, constructed like massive Meccano sets, you can't put everything you want into the hull. It's a Catch-22 for innovators."

A different tack is being taken by AXYS Technologies Inc., which designs, manufactures and maintains the electronic "brains" of many of the world's buoys.

"Our customer base is international, comprising federal governments, port authorities, universities and oceanographic research stations," says Matt Robson, AXYS's spokesman for marine sales. "That's because our products safeguard ships from crashing into things, as well as forewarning them of hazardous weather and environmental conditions."

The company also provides automated weather stations for regional airports and ground sites on highways.

AXYS doesn't make the buoys, rather the sensors and telemetry inside those bobbing markers, collecting information crucial for safe and secure waterway navigation.

Based in Sidney, B.C., near Victoria, the company produces motion sensors and directional wave buoy software that scans across - and under - a buoy's environment, amassing data on wave height, wave speed and direction, current speed, as well as wind speed, air temperature, water temperature, oil and pH.

Raw data is processed and logged onboard the buoy, then transmitted via radio, cellular or satellite telemetry to the end-user.

"All AXYS buoys provide the dual function of automated weather station and navigational aid," Robson says. "This spectrum of data is essential not only for mariners, but also offshore hydrocarbon and gas-exploration companies, alternative-energy researchers and national weather agencies who need to gauge what's happening on the high seas and remote corners of the planet. It also has tsunami-detection capabilities and our technology is now being added to the early-warning systems being deployed by India."

Port operators worldwide face tough challenges keeping goods and people moving safely and efficiently through port facilities, Robson says.

To meet those challenges, operators and port authorities are increasingly turning to a range of automated information systems (AIS) to provide real-time weather and ship traffic information.

"The AXYS Port Sentinel is an AIS system designed to provide mission-critical real-time environmental and traffic data," Robson says.

Canada is viewed internationally as a hot-bed of maritime transportation innovations, Thomson says.

"There's a tremendous amount of research and development going on. Other countries are looking to us for expertise. For our company, R&D is absolutely critical to our future. I'm not interested in copying what others have developed, there's more than enough scope available for truly new products."

Although there's enough talent in Canada to create breakthroughs for the global marine transportation industry, tapping those markets remains a major hurdle for this country's mushrooming marine technology leaders.

"The challenge that lies with marine R&D is in appreciating the balance between reliability that's associated with the tried and true, and the opportunity to improve safety, extend life and reduce operating and maintenance costs," Thomson says. "When making the business case to our customers, I relate my favorite quote: 'The sea is an unforgiving place where we have to balance our fears against our dreams.' "

(Jack Kohane can be reached at kohane@businessedge.ca)