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June 22, 2001
Such was the case on June 6th when with a simple phone call from Senior Vice President, Fleet Operations, Rear Admiral Argyropoulos advised Victoria Shipyards (VSL) their luxury cruise vessel, named G.T.S Infinity, had developed a mechanical problem, with one of it's two, 'Mermaid' propulsion units. He explained although the vessel was sailing without any problems, it would be prudent to drydock it, for a complete examination and repair of the starboard propulsion unit. Carrying out this repair would ensure a continued, trouble free, 2001 Alaska cruise-operating season. This request quickly turned into one of the biggest logistical challenges VSL has ever faced. A sequence of events unfolded very quickly during numerous in-house meetings where several scheduling problems were identified and solutions found. The first one included finding a suitable time frame to drydock the vessel. The operating location of Victoria Shipyards is the 1200-foot (ft.) Esquimalt Graving Dock located in Victoria on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. VSL is the only drydock on the West Coast of Canada with the capacity to accommodate the G.T.S Infinity. BUT the drydock was already utilized for the multimillion-dollar refit of the HMCS Protecteur, which was in its third month of a six-month drydocking period. One can imagine the concerns of the Department of National Defense, when VSL requested permission to remove their vessel from the drydock. VSL's technical team quickly verified vessel condition and determined what measures had to be performed to ensure a safe float off condition. These calculations were remitted to the Senior Project Officer in charge of the HMCS Protecteur program for approval. Once that was received, VSL immediately commenced operations of closing up the vessel in a timely fashion. The HMCS Protecteur had numerous openings cut into the hull to allow access to equipment being removed from its machinery spaces for repair and overhaul. Heavy equipment was also removed from various locations throughout the vessel, causing the ship's stability condition for undocking to be compromised. To correct this condition, additional ballast water was pumped into the ship's cargo tanks to ensure adequate vessel stability, to allow the ship to be safely re-floated. Once the HMCS Protecteur left drydock, the existing block setting was dismantled and then rebuilt to the required configuration for the cruise vessel. This operation required a minimum of three days, working twenty-four hours a day. The same block setting will also be dismantled and rebuilt to suit the HMCS Protecteur for re-docking after the cruise vessel has departed. Consecutively, the F/T Saga Sea, a Russian registered fish factory trawler, was undergoing extensive hull structural steel repairs, in the forward section of the drydock. VSL personnel worked around the clock to complete the work early, thus allowing the cruise vessel's repair schedule to be maintained. To add to the confusion another fish factory trawler, the American registered F/T Arctic Storm was scheduled to enter the drydock on June 11th, for an extensive refit scheduled to last approximately three weeks. After numerous phone calls between various personnel within the Washington Marine Group, it was determined our sister company, Vancouver Drydock (VDC), could assist in the process. This would require acceleration of their work schedule on the Crowley barge 450-9. Therefore, the barge could be undocked earlier, which in turn, would allow the Canadian Coast Guard vessel, C.C.G.S. John Jacobsen to enter their dock ahead of schedule, for underwater hull inspection, prior to departure for the East Coast of Canada The F/T Arctic Storm left the VSL facility on the evening of Monday, June 11th and set sail to Vancouver, for drydocking on the 700-ft. long Panamax floating drydock at VDC, on Tuesday, June 12th. It was at that point; VSL advised Celebrity Cruise Lines their cruise vessel could be drydocked early on June 15th. In fact the vessel arrived and stemmed the dock in Victoria at 0600 on June 14th, approximately 36 hours ahead of schedule much to the delight of the owner. Immediately the drydock was drained of water. VSL's work crews went into action. Man-lifts were lowered into the dock bottom, along with pre -packed work platforms, which contained the special tools and equipment required to carry out the repair. Staging towers were erected to access the propulsion unit. Lifting eyes were quickly spotted and welded to the underside of the ship's hull to handle the rigging required to remove the giant props allowing access to the defective bearing. Shipyard crews assisted by some owner supplied worldwide specialists worked around the clock to ensure the planned time frames were met. Once the propellers were lifted free, the end covers were removed to allow an examination. It was clear the bearing was showing signs of wear. The old bearing was removed and new bearings were fitted to the unit. Upon completion, the entire system was flushed to remove all foreign particles. When the system was clean the unit was energized and trials were done to ensure correct operation prior to going back into service. However, while the work was completed on the starboard side propulsion motor the owner also decided to replace the bearing on the port unit as a precautionary method. This was deemed an appropriate time to do this exercise. Both units were tested and given a clean bill of health. The vessel departed VSL on Thursday, June 21st ahead of schedule. The logistics required to accomplish all of the above could not have been accomplished without the total agreement and close cooperation of numerous players who include:
"The above is a testament to the 'can do' attitude of the Washington Marine Group and the several individuals from management to shop floor personnel, who logically worked their way through the maize of problems and came up with viable solutions," said Malcolm Barker, VSL's Manager, Ship Repair. "Needless to say, the G.T.S. Infinity was repaired and returned to service, ready to undertake its next Alaska Cruise on June 22nd." "Once again, the Washington Marine Group, specifically Victoria Shipyards, has proven it is ready and capable of handling difficult ship repair problems at a minutes notice," he said. "This is an outstanding example of how a group of companies and a number of government agencies were able to respond within a very short time from a cruise ship requiring unexpected repairs," said John Hansen, President, North West Cruiseship Association. "This quality of response is very important to the cruise industry. The case is also a dramatic example of value added in BC as part of the $500 million economic benefit of the industry in the region." For further information (including pictures) contact: Kelly Francis, Communications Coordinator |
In
the demanding world of ship repair, companies are constantly faced
with requests that are both challenging and demanding.