Solutions in Panama

The owners of a 34,000 ton container vessel contacted Hydrex in order to carry out a repair requiring an insert into the vessel's shell plating. A crack had developed in the plating right next to the bulkhead and this, of course, needed to be dealt with quickly before it became a major problem. The insert that was needed was approximately 700mm x 300mm in size. As Hydrex has the expertise and Lloyds' approval to carry out these kinds of repairs whilst a vessel is afloat we were called upon to carry out the work so we immediately dispatched a diving team to Panama where the vessel was located. Our first call was to a local company where an appropriate sized mobdock was constructed to cover the area over the hull that needed replacement. Once we were satisfied that the mobdock was to the standards required and would be watertight whilst the plating was cut out it was transported to the port. A meeting with all appropriate staff was held. The sequence of work and safety procedures were discussed and decided upon and the initial internal inspection was done. The first step of the actual repair was to fit mobdock underwater over the affected area. Once complete, our team started to cut out a part of the bulkhead over the area where the external plating had to be replaced. The defective hull plating was then cropped out, corners rounded off. Fitting of the insert in place was the following action and once this had been positioned correctly the full penetration weld started from the inside in accordance with Lloyds approved welding procedure. After it had been completed the insert repair was checked using ultrasonic testing and found to be without any defects. The part of the bulkhead that had been removed was then replaced and welded securely back in place, the mobdock removed from the hull and so our customer was able to continue with normal operations with only a short delay to schedule.