Specialist ship repairs highlight German expertise

New marine environmental rules introduced this year have prompted a spate of scrubber jobs in German yards. Having already tackled scrubber and filter installation work on the 90.900gt Queen Elizabeth and, now, on the 90,000gt Queen Victoria, Hamburg’s Blohm + Voss Repair (B+V) is expected to be given similar work on the 148,528gt flagship Queen Mary 2.

Cunard’s Director for Germany and Austria Anja Tabarelli appeared to confirm the appointment in comments in December, prior to the work on Queen Victoria in January. She was quoted by B+V saying that Queen Mary 2 (QM2) “will be provided with scrubbers and filters during her next yard visit. This overhaul, which is scheduled to take place within the next 18 months, is also likely to be carried out at Blohm+Voss.”

Queen Elizabeth was at B+V last May for scrubber installation, part of her first overhaul since entering service in 2010. She has also had a few pod problems along the line. So too has Queen Victoria. Her January visit for “comprehensive maintenance and modernisation” included not only the installation of her exhaust emission cleaning units but also the replacement of an Azipod bearing.

Cunard’s Ruth Harrington told The Motorship that the latest “multi-million pound refit” included installing two Eco Spray exhaust gas cleaners. B+V said two scrubbers and three exhaust filters were being fitted to bring the ship “up to date” with environmental rules. In addition, a new ballast water treatment system was being installed.

Favoured customer

The maintenance work involved Queen Victoria’s propulsion units – six Sulzer ZA40 diesels from Wärtsilä with a combined 63.4MW. The system also includes two podded drive propulsors from ABB, each of 17.6MW, and it is those units that actually prompted the January visit.

The recent favoured customer agreement means that B+V is now the preferred yard of Cunard owner Carnival, not only for further pod work but for all repair and maintenance dockings on ships in Europe – the only north European yard to have such a deal.

With time-consuming big ship repair and conversion projects thin on the ground currently, the high number of recent repair jobs on smaller ships is not surprising. Notable is the high number of technically sophisticated ships in for work recently – be it routine or special docking – like Maria S Merian. The expertise they require highlights German repair competence as effectively as work on big ships.

The work on the smaller, state-of-the-art scientific and similarly dedicated tonnage is also lucrative and regular, as many yards, both large and small, acknowledge. It tends to come from secure state and government bodies or established local operators looking to order close to home from proven local yards rather than elsewhere.

Work on the 54,6m government-owned multi-purpose research ship Heincke, also at MWB, was on schedule as of early January, The Motorship was told. She was staying until February 10th for work including the exchange of her three KHD-MWM TDB-604 L 6 main engines, each of 525kW providing 12.5 knots.

They were being replaced with “comparable” D 3842 630kW units from MAN. A scrubber plant was also being installed to meet new eco rules.

Identical sister Alkor docked in December at Kiel’s ADM Group Lindenau Schiffswerft for work including the repair of her Becker rudder plant.

Scrubber conversions

Elsewhere, scrubber installation work at MWB’s parent group German Dry Docks (GDD) was keeping workforces busy well into January. The yard told The Motorship that two ships from Reederei H.P. Wegener – the 3,400dwt Containerships V111 and the13,645dwt Containerships V1 – had been booked in for unidentified scrubber installation.

GDD also said Pulpca had called – the last of five 17,400dwt Class Spliethoff Group/Transfenica ConRo ships fitted with scrubbers since the summer. The conversions have involved one of the largest marine exhaust waste gas scrubbing systems – Alfa Laval’s Pure SOx system which serves both main and auxiliary engines. Pulpca was at GDD well into January and there was no immediate word of further scrubber conversions.

Recent cargo ship callers at Bremerhaven Dock (BREDO) included the 20,580dwt container feeder ship Adelina D for class work and the 5,203dwt general cargo ship Blue Carmel, also for class work as well as propulsion plant repairs. Maintenance work on the 100.5m German Navy Elbe Class supply tender Rhein was also being carried out into January, according to managing director Dirk Harms. That job was being handled by personnel from Elsflether Werft, which regularly leases docks from BREDO. The 9,359dwt cargo ship Annegret docked for class work and the 7,993dwt container feeder Rita came for similar work.

Harms reported satisfactory bookings through January but stressed that all the work remained largely routine and involved general dockings. He said routine repair and maintenance jobs on a wide range of ships and special tonnage had also kept the yard busy before that and in the closing months of 2014.

Much of the work involved smaller ships. The 86m three-masted German sail training ship Schulschiff Deutschland called for work including corrosion repairs on her steel hull and hull reinforcement. Reports said the work on the 87-year-old ship, sub-contracted by the BVT Shipyard would cost about €1 million, with Berlin and Bremen putting up most of it.

• For more detail and analysis on recent work at Germany’s shipyards, look out for or report in The Motorship’s February issue, out soon. To subscribe, click here.