RR opens new marine propulsion service and training facility in Norway

A new service workshop has been opened at the Rolls-Royce Commercial Marine site in Ulsteinvik on the west of Norway. This will be the centre of excellence in the North Sea area for servicing and repair of thrusters and propulsion equipment.

The 3,000m2 hall is fully equipped with cranes and also incorporates a pit for assembling propeller hubs and blades on shaftlines. It is laid out for a logical flow of work, with equipment entering at one end for cleaning and dismantling, and leaving at the other repaired and tested. Adjacent to the workshop is a quay, and a transporter will move equipment from vessel to workshop.

Since Kamewa Ulstein tunnel thrusters, reduction gearboxes and some types of Ulstein Aquamaster azimuth thrusters are manufactured at the same site, there is ready access to specialised machine tools and the design knowledge base. A separate hall is used to store customers? spare units, which are regularly checked over. This hall can also be used for overhauling large units, and a lifting capacity of 150 tonnes is available. The workshop has ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification.

Rolls-Royce has also opened a training centre for service personnel at the same location. It provides both theoretical and practical hands-on training in servicing and overhauling the company?s propulsion products. “This substantial investment enables us to improve our aftermarket support for customers, from polishing and balancing of propeller blades to full overhauls of thrusters. We can also expand our ability to store customers? spare thrusters for immediate dispatch in the event of units in service being damaged, then repair damaged units to become the new spares, minimising vessel downtime.” says Vice President for Aftermarket, Bj?rn R Andersen.