Damen Shiprepair completes Saga Sapphire refurb

The work comprised 224 items comprising more than 600 tasks. They were completed in 19 days at the ship repair company’s biggest drydock in Rotterdam, the 307m number eight dock.

Damen had to go through the hull and engine bulkhead to replace Sapphire’s two sewage plants. It also repaired deck steel work, overhauled lifeboats and their davits and carried out general maintenance on electrical and hydraulic systems and piping.

The class survey included an inspection of the vessel’s 12m long propeller axle.

Khalil Benjelloul, cruise vessels product manager, Damen Shiprepair & Conversion said: “Considering the time frame and the age of the vessel, this was a challenging refurbishment project. With Damen’s own personnel and subcontractors working to such a tight schedule, an important issue with this project was an efficient interface between tasks.”

Paul Ippel, area sales manager and project manager at Damen added: “On a big project like this, efficient communication is of the essence. It was a complicated and challenging job but it is great to see another cruise ship repair project finished on schedule.”