Home » Case Studies » Emergency Breakdown of Kawasaki Side Thruster Successfully Addressed with Timely Overhaul
Table of Contents
Case Study
Emergency Breakdown of Kawasaki Side Thruster Successfully Addressed with Timely Overhaul
Table of Contents
Background
Industry
Marine
Solution
Emergency
Repair Services
for Kawasaki Engine
Side Thruster
Make & Model
Kawasaki Engine
Side Thruster
Asset
Supply Vessel
Objective
To complete the
Kawasaki Propulsion Overhaul Services
side thruster engine within a tight deadline, ensuring the vessel remained operational and avoided significant off-hire losses.
Challenge / Problem Context
The auxiliary engine was frequently tripping, disrupting Bow Thruster operations critical to vessel maneuverability.
Vessel engineers were unable to diagnose or fix the issue onboard.
Travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 lockdown prevented Neptunus' service team from attending the vessel physically.
Risk of vessel off-hire, potentially leading to a revenue loss of ~$35,000 over 7 days.
Additional potential losses included alongside-docking and service deployment charges estimated at ~$2,000.
What Did We Do?
We assessed the situation remotely through detailed discussions with the vessel’s engineering team to understand symptoms and previous troubleshooting steps.
We created and shared a customized technical checklist guiding the vessel team to systematically investigate potential failure points.
We instructed the team to check voltage values immediately after engine restart, flash the exciter if required, verify winding resistance and insulation levels, and perform a detailed visual inspection of the rotating rectifier assembly.
We maintained continuous communication to guide the crew through each diagnostic step, ensuring no oversight.
Within 12 hours, our remote intervention helped identify the issue-loose bolts on the rotating rectifier assembly-and guided the team to resolve it, leading to restoration of normal engine function.
Results That We Achieved
Successfully restored the engine’s normal operation remotely within 12 hours of first contact.
Prevented vessel off-hire, thereby saving an estimated revenue loss of ~$35,000.
Avoided additional costs of ~$2,000 related to vessel docking and engineer mobilization.
Strengthened client trust and demonstrated the effectiveness of Neptunus’ Remote Maintenance Services even under severe constraints.
