Machinery Repairs News

Intertek’s Farnborough laboratory is supporting P&O Cruises’ new flagship Britannia by providing independent oil condition monitoring (OCM) services which monitor the condition of Britannia’s engines and other oil lubricated systems. Britannia, the largest cruise ship designed exclusively for British holiday market, set sail from Southampton last month to fulfill a busy timetable of Mediterranean cruisers which does not allow for unexpected engine and machinery repairs or time out of service.

CFR 46 Subchapter M is on track and heading for you. Neither the U.S. Flag inland vessel industry, nor the United States Coast Guard knows for sure where or when, but it is coming. One thing is for sure, however, it is going to be expensive – very expensive. Subchapter ‘M’ has been cooking for over a decade and is meant to address a segment of the U.S. commercial inland marine industry that currently carries the moniker of “uninspected” vessel. Far from truly uninspected, responsible operators, in consort with the Coast Guard, The American Waterways Operators (AWO), insurers, lenders and classification societies, have for many years – for safety and liabilities sake – addressed a considerable number of issues now scheduled to be codified under Subchapter M.

The U.S. Navy's first afloat forward staging base-interim, USS Ponce (AFSB-I), has arrived in Bahrain for duty in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility (AOR). USS Ponce's primary mission is to support mine countermeasures (MCM) operations and other missions, such as the ability to provide repair service to other deployed units, including electrical, diesel engine, piping, and machinery repairs. Additionally, Ponce also has the capability to embark and launch small riverine craft. Commanded by a U.S. Navy captain, Ponce will remain a U.S. Navy ship.

The yard-crew at Bay Ship & Yacht shipyard, located on San Francisco Bay in the island City of Alameda, carefully rolled the cradled RV New Horizon from its work station, along the rails to the yard’s new 1200-ton Syncrolift, which lowers the vessel into the estuary that separates Alameda from Oakland. The 170 x 36 ft. vessel had undergone several weeks of underwater hull and machinery repairs at the yard. Once back in the water, she headed to her home port at the University of California’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego to join the three other vessels of the research fleet. Other R/Vs that have been dry-docked recently at Bay Ship & Yacht include.

Dawn has broken over the Bay Ship & Yacht shipyard, located on San Francisco Bay in the island City of Alameda, as the yard-crew carefully rolls the cradled Research Vessel or R/V New Horizon from her work station, along the rails to the yard’s new 1200-ton Syncrolift, which gently lowers the vessel into the estuary that separates Alameda from Oakland. Sparkling in the morning sun, the 170-by-36 ft vessel, weighing almost 800 tons, had undergone several weeks of underwater hull and machinery repairs at the yard.

Halliburton Subsea's 1530dwt diving support vessel Rockwater I has just completed a major repair and refurbishment program at A&P Tyne Ltd. The vessel arrived at Wallsend on January 4, dry-docked on January 17th for a 41-day docking period and then moved onto the wharf for completion of the refurbishment until she was handed back on April 4. Work on the included repairs and refurbishments in the hospital, galley, crew mess rooms, all major services including fire detection, electric, hot and cool fresh water, plus 45 complete new wet units with new insulation installed in all areas. Other work carried out involved Class survey work, hull and machinery repairs, hull blasting and coating, azimuth and bow thruster repairs, crane slew bearing inspection and hydraulic repairs.

Southwest Marine, Inc., San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $10,485,093 cost-plus-award-fee modification under a previously awarded contract (N62791-02-C-0067) to exercise an option for the dry-docking selected restricted availability of USS Lake Champlain (CG-57), which will include various machinery repairs, boiler work and shipalts. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif., and is expected to be completed by November 2002. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The supervisor of shipbuilding, conversion and repair, USN, San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity.