Cruise and naval ships in the news in Germany

The dramatic job was just one of a string of recent cruise ship contracts for the busy Hamburg yard. The 12 year old, HDW-built Deutschland was towed from Norway’s Eidsfjord to Bergen and then to Hamburg after her passengers were evacuated following an extensive engine room fire on Easter Sunday.

Deutschland spent 30 days in B+V’s Dock 10 with the damage repairs costing a reported €2 million. Deilmann was quoted as saying the ship’s regular two-year class overhaul, due in November in Genoa, was brought forward and carried out at the same time for an additional €1.5 million.

Holland America’s 82,318 gt luxury cruise ship Noordam followed Deutschland into B+V in July for 11 days of drydocking, general overhaul and repairs in the yard’s giant Elbe Dock 17.

The yard this summer also tackled similar work on two Fred Olsen regulars – the 24,344 gt Braemar and the 43,537 gt Balmoral.

The biggest cruise ship to call of late has been the 92,627 gt MSC Poesia which docked in Elbe Dock 17 for refit and guarantee work which lasted 12 days. Another giant visitor for 12 days of drydock and general repair was the 90,280 gt Celebrity Constellation.

Color Line’s 75,027 gt Color Fantasy called for nine days of drydock and general repair work and sister Color Magic came for a swift two-day drydock and propeller repair. The 6,752 gt adventure cruise ship Bremen, a regular visitor from Hapag Lloyd Kreuzfahrten (HLKF), was in for nearly two weeks of drydocking and general work in Dock 16. Cabin and public area modernisation work begun during the ship’s previous call was completed.

Reports said another HLKF regular visitor, the 28,980 gt five-star luxury liner Europa, would dock at B+V for three weeks in September. According to those reports, the luxury liner would undergo the repair of damage sustained during the installation of a new engine in Singapore in June. Europa underwent a two-week, €5 million extensive renovation and partial conversion at B+V last year.

A spate of merchant ship work meanwhile has underscored the yard’s reputation for cargo ship repair, despite the trauma of a switch of majority ownership from ThyssenKrupp to Abu Dhabi Mar, which might have thrown a lesser yard. The switch was completed mid year.

The ro-ro vehicle carrier Frontier, of 25,450 dwt, and the 21,801 dwt barge-container carrier Baco Liner 2 called - the former for alongside repairs and the latter for docking and general repairs.

Coincidentally, Baco-Liner 1 was also under repair in Hamburg at the same time as her sister. She spent two weeks at the MAN PrimeServ facility where a damaged cylinder block was replaced on her 8L55GF engine.

B+V also carried out delivery docking and final painting on the 42,650 gt container ship newbuilds Frisia Brussel and Frisia Cottbus, both completed earlier at former sister yard Thyssen Nordseewerke in Emden.

Second big conversion

Germany’s newest cruise ship operator, TUI Cruises, is to convert and modernise the 77,713 gt Meyer-built cruise ship Celebrity Mercury for service from next Spring as Mein Schiff 2. However spokeswoman Ivonne Steiniger told The Motorship that a decision on which yard would carry out the €50 million job had not been made as of late July.

Front runner for the work has got to be Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven (LWB). It beat rival bids from four other shipyards, among them Blohm + Voss, early last year to convert the one year older, Meyer-built sister ship Galaxy into Mein Schiff 1 for about the same sum.

TUI said at the time that LWB was the only yard to offer completion in 38 days. It actually took 35 days and it will be interesting to see if LWB can keep its edge this time and how recession will affect the latest bids.

Most of the main technical details of the conversion of Mein Schiff 2 were not available in July, but it was revealed that the latest work will embody the same ‘feel good’ concept adopted by TUI on the first ship.

Spa and fitness areas will be considerably expanded along with dining facilities. “Numerous” cabin balconies and verandas will also be added. Galaxy got 200 new balconies and 202 balcony extensions and ended up with 974 cabins, 653 outside and 430 with either verandas or balconies.

It will be interesting to see if TUI again fits sponsons and a stern ducktail to add stability and compensate for extra weight.

LWB completed on schedule the extensive €16 million modernisation of the 20,606 gt veteran cruise ship Astor. The job, which lasted six months, made her fit for another 12 years service with Premicon Group’s Transocean.

Sail and navy projects

Two well-known sailing ships are high on the list of interesting projects tackled by small and medium-sized German shipyards, but postponed Navy maintenance projects might threaten the future of other facilities.

The German cruise sail ship Sea Cloud will dock at Motorenwerke Bremerhaven (MWB) in November for upgrading and renovation lasting into next year.

The 788 dwt four masted barque will be upgraded to new SOLAS safety standards. Crew areas, parts of the deck and rigging and some of the passenger cabins including bathrooms will also be renovated under the supervision of Hamburg cruise ship architects Partner Ship Design.

It was not reported exactly how long the work would take but Sea Cloud Cruises said the 109m long and 15m wide ship would sail again to mark her 80th birthday in May 2011.

Already completed meanwhile was the latest extensive overhaul of another famous German sailship, the 52 year-old, three-masted Navy training ship Gorch Fock. She spent about the first six months of the year at the Elsflether Werft and at the German Navy Arsenal on the Weser being made fit for ten more years of service.

Some 300 tons of lead and iron ballast were removed and replaced with lead ballast throughout, removing a corrosion threat long-term, the Navy said. The ship’s engine and three generators were also completely overhauled along with other equipment and machinery while the entire rigging was taken down, checked, conserved and in some cases replaced.

The Navy added that numerous small conversions were undertaken to reduce the weight of the 73m long ship by more than 50 tons and improve her centre of gravity.

Busy until mid September with the overhaul and routine maintenance of another German Navy ship – the Class 123 frigate Mecklenburg-Vorpommern - is the Nobiskrug Shipyard in Rendsburg on the Kiel Canal, one of three German yards now owned by Abu Dhabi Mar.

Nobiskrug appeared lucky with its work going ahead despite the postponement of other Navy ship and boat maintenance which reports said affected the number of yard projects and thus threatened small yards reliant on Navy frigate, patrol boat and supply ship work.

Nobiskrug’s refit & repair division also drydocked the 4,400 dwt cement tanker Cemsol. She underwent class hull work, high-pressure washing and paint touch-up as well as zinc anode renewal.

Bredo in Bremerhaven drydocked the 87.5m long and 14.3m wide ocean-going tug Oceanic for overhaul and due class work. She has been a regular caller at the facility since her launch in 1969.

The 179 tonne bollard pull tug’s two 19m long, 40 ton drive shafts were drawn using a Bugsier floating crane. Oceanic has two 1985 Deutz Diesel SBV 12 M 640 supercharged main engines of combined 9,700kW, each geared to one shaft, and her propulsion comprises twin variable pitch propellers in fixed Kort nozzles. She has been on North Sea coastal standby duty since 1996 and was replaced during her stay at Bredo by the 80m long multi-purpose Mellum.