Urgent engine overhaul rapidly completed

The 14,506gt offshore construction support vessel Normand Installer was in Hartlepool to load cables that it was scheduled to lay on the Asgard Field offshore Angola. However, water leaks from the exhaust seat of a cylinder head on one of the ship’s four Wärtsilä engines led to ship’s staff and Wärtsilä engineers to immediately identify a need to inspect and pressure-test other cylinders heads.

Working in cooperation with a Wärtsilä service engineer, Solstad concluded that each of the 48 cylinder heads on all of the ship’s engines needed to be overhauled before the ship could resume work, in order to minimise the risk of costly problems and downtime when operating offshore under contract.

Royston’e quickly-assembled engineering team worked in cooperation with the on-board Wärtsilä service engineer to devise a work plan that would enable as many cylinder heads as possible to be removed and serviced while the ship was docked. With 24-hour working initiated at Royston’s workshop in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the company reports that it serviced and overhauled all of the cylinder heads for two of the ship’s main engines. The result was that 12 days after the problem had been identified, a total of 32 cylinder heads had been removed, cleaned, machined and re-installed so that the engines were returned to full operational condition.

With the Normand Installer committed to a tight work schedule, two Royston engineers sailed along with the Wärtsilä service engineer to Las Palmas where they were able to resume the overhaul of the cylinder heads on the remaining engines. This was achieved in a workshop created on-board with the use of equipment supplied by Royston. It was thereby possible to machine the cylinder head valves and valve seats and to use a cylinder head cleaning tank and pressure testing equipment while at sea.

After a four day voyage the ship arrived in Las Palmas where the team on board was joined by three more Royston engineers who worked a 24-hour shift pattern. This was maintained throughout the remainder of the voyage and ensured that every cylinder head on the ship’s four engines had been removed, serviced and replaced before it anchored off Abijan, Cote d’Ivoire.

Peter Murphy, technical superintendent for the Normand Installer, issued a recommendation to his fellow Solstad superintendents for Royston’s employment on other vessels in the Solstad fleet. “We were very happy with the service,” he said. “It was a tight deadline but they were committed to our needs and were very cooperative and easy to work with throughout – from the first phone call to the final invoice. Whatever I wanted, I always knew who to telephone and I knew that I could count on it being done.”

Royston says it is headquartered in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, and also has facilities in Perth, Australia that enable its engineers to support any type or age of diesel engine. The fleet maintenance service is provided globally for all types of seagoing vessel and for stationary diesel engines. In addition to its engine maintenance and repair services, the company designs and manufactures a fuel and engine monitoring system.