Swansea drydocks achieve full occupancy

This is a first for the group which signed a longer lease on the dry docks in April 2010 following the departure of Saga Pearl II which had been refurbished and refitted at the docks.

The two vessels are Visten and Welsh Piper. The dredger, Welsh Piper, has now left having had her biannual special service, and undergone pipe replacement and steelwork (some 20 tonnes of steel were used in all). The Canadian owned tanker Visten remains and is being converted into a bulk carrier. Work being undertaken includes installation of two cargo cranes and the redesign of the hatch cover arrangement.

So far this year, six vessels, a cruise liner, a ferry (Julia), and three dredgers (Heron, Dolphin and Welsh Piper) and the Visten have been in the dry docks, with more vessels expected in the coming weeks and months.

The two dry docks can cater for vessels of a variety of sizes and duration of stay. At 204m overall length, the Duke of Edinburgh Dock is the larger of the two with clear width at the entrance of 28m, while the Prince of Wales Dock is 172m in overall dock length with clear width at the entrance of 22.26m.

The dock complex has an accommodation and messing compound for use by ships’ crews when ships’ services are shut down. This results in substantial savings on hotel and travelling costs as well as allowing uninterrupted work on board the vessel.