Gibdock Performs Quick Freight Ferry Repair

Gibdock has redelivered the Seatruck Ferries container/ro-ro vessel Clipper Point on-time, after a fast turnaround 11-day renewal project for the Clipper Group-owned operator. The ship has subsequently been introduced to Seatrucks’ Irish Sea operations.

Returning Gibdock customer Seatruck scheduled the 5,193dwt Clipper Point to arrive in the yard on September 18. The 142m long (23m beam) freight ferry left the yard after the job’s completion on September 30.

The scope of the project included completion of her statutory classification surveys involving inspections of the hull, deck machinery and rudders, steering gear overhauls and hull cleaning plus the application of Hempel antifouling coatings. It also involved the removal, smoothing and polishing of Clipper Point’s twin Wärtsilä 4CF13AH controllable pitch propeller blades in a team effort with Portuguese contractor Repropel Propulsion Services, as well as overhauling the ship’s Wärtsilä CT200 bow thrusters.

The Clipper Point repair was also notable for bringing Gibdock Ship Manager Juan Pinero Perez and Seatruck Senior Superintendent Mark Baynham together again - the team that worked successfully on the repair project entrusted to Gibdock by Sea Trucks, Clipper Arrow in 2014.  

Designed by Knud E. Hansen A/S, Clipper Point is one of four P Series ro-ro freight ferries built for Clipper Group subsidiary Sea Trucks by Spanish shipyard Astilleros de Huelva whose dimensions were conceived as the maximum possible permissible for the UK port of Heysham. The three-deck Heysham max ferries have capacity for 105 trailers (1,800 lane meters) and are classed 1A1 RoRo/Container vessels by DNVGL.