Shiprepair eNews December 2017
The 3,237TEU container ship Philadelphia Express docked at Blohm+Voss (in Dock 10) in Hamburg on 29 November 2017 and should be in the shipyard until December 10. The 243 metre long and 32 metre wide container ship build in 2003 and is part of the Hamburg shipping company Hapag-Lloyd's fleet.
The scope of work included repair of propeller, rudder and bow thrusters, removal and maintenance of hatch covers and overhaul of the main engine. The heavy hatch covers (between 30 and 34 tons) will be hoisted out of the ship with the aid of a floating crane and extensively overhauled. In January next year, the US-flagged sister ship, the Washington.
In addition, to the numerous smaller steel works the shipyard will be blasting and performing conservation work on the entire hull. For this work the yard will use the new HTC technology (Hull Treatment Carrier) a state-of-the-art automatic system for the coating of hulls developed by Hubert Palfinger Technologies (HPT). Blohm+Voss is the first European shipyard to launch and use this system, which has been available to for repair and refit projects since the summer.
The new HTC automatic surface preparation and coating process, should provide not only cost saving but also smother antifouling applications, reduce environmental impact due to significant reductions in volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions and increased occupational safety. The system uses high-pressure water up to 3,000bar to clean and prepare the hull surface prior to the automated application up to 1,200 m² per hour per. HTC is said to require up to 30 percent less coating than common manual application techniques.
The collaboration between the shipyard and the manufacturer for the HTC system began in May 2016 with the first successful test runs, which included a 4,045 TEU container ship from the Hapag-Lloyd shipping company. Whilst the container vessel Quebec Express was docked at Blohm+Voss, the coating was fully removed, partially using the HTC system, and further maintenance work was conducted. This has led to a 7% reduction of the speed-loss of the vessel“, said Lutz Dyck, Fleet Director of the Hamburg shipping company.
Blohm+Voss have also found considerable success in the passenger/cruise ship market with recent work on Balmoral (10-19 December 2017)and Braemar (25 November – 3 December 2017) for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, Artania (5-27 November 2017 for Phoenix Reisen GmbH and Arcadia (2-12 November 2017) for Carnival Plc.
The family owned Bremen based shipyard, Luerssen acquired the Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg in September 2016.
