Shiprepair & Maintenance: 2nd Quarter 2020
Sweden’s largest graving dock is now even larger. Last autumn, Oresund Drydocks shipyard completed an extension
to its main dock, taking it from 195m up to 203m in length. Destination Gotland’s Visborg was the first vessel to dock at the extended facility, which will enable the yard to respond more effectively to the trend of larger vessels operating in the region.
Magnus Malmström, chief commercial officer at Oresund Drydocks, says: “This investment is a step in right direction, although in the longer term we are still looking at building a new and even bigger graving dock by converting our present slipway. The ports around us now have capacity for vessels up to 240m in length and, to keep our customers, we need to invest in a larger dock.”
Oresund Drydocks has also invested in upgrading some of its landside facilities to extend its capabilities and better meet client requirements. The yard has opened a new valve overhaul workshop and testing station, which was DNV GL certified last December and has also taken delivery of new section bending and boring machinery during the first quarter of 2020.
Oresund Drydocks is consequently able to machine propeller blades up to 2.5tonnes in weight and can carry out a wider variety of machining jobs in-house.
Last year, shiprepair volumes at the yard overall were similar to 2018 levels, but 2020 got off to a flying start with the arrival of Eckero Line’s Finbo Cargo for conversion to a 1A ice class vessel. The ro-ro ship was at the yard for around 10 weeks, during which 450tonnes of steel work to ice strengthen the hull was carried out.
Ferry and ro-ro business makes up a significant amount of the yard’s workload, with regional operators taking up the majority of the client base. Another notable project this year to date involved the docking of DFDS’ Jutlandia Seaways for 8,000m2 of blasting and painting on its ro-ro decks, while ro-ro and ferry visitors in the first quarter of 2020 also included Stena Saga, the Aland islands ferry Misana, Destination Gotland’s Thjelvar, HH Ferries’ Mercandia VIII and Finnlines’ Finnmill and Finnpulp.
The yard handles a wide range of vessel types, however, and earlier this year undertook repair and maintenance work to the tanker RHL Flensburg and the offshore tug supply vessel Brage Viking, among others.
Malmström adds: “Despite the Covid-19 emergency we have carried on working as usual, completing some complex jobs like the Finbo Cargo project. While some work, for passenger vessels and tankers in particular, has been postponed, making the future somewhat challenging, we are optimistic overall.”
