Spanish repair dock installs new propeller pits

The forward pit, sitting longitudinally along the centre line, has dimensions of length 15m, breadth 10.5m, and depth 1.5m. The aft pit lies athwartships with dimensions 21m x 7m x1.5m. The new pits are said to allow for distances of 3 0m to 4.5m between the hull bottom and the bottom of the pit.

The pit solution is claimed to provide a more economic and straightforward alternative to the usual double docking bed and is said to give Astander a significant advantage over other shipyards, which are unable to dock deep-draughted vessels or those which have thrusters which need to be removed.

The first vessel to use the facility was the CGG Symphony whose thrusters were removed for overhaul. The new pits are reported to be proving popular with other ship owners and managers looking for dry docking facilities for deep-draughted vessels in southern Europe. Among other recent users of the pits has been the OSV Seven Oceans, owned by Subsea7.