There are over 300 expedition, ocean and river cruise ships and hundreds of ferries currently in service. All these vessels must enter dry dock at regular intervals for general maintenance, inspections and technical upgrades, as well as retrofitting projects as more energy-efficient engines and new technologies come to the market. Operators must also be conscious of ensuring a ship’s interiors remain aesthetically appealing to today’s passengers to compete with the many newbuild ships coming into service.
As such, repair and refurbishment yards across the globe have been a hive of activity in the first half of 2024.
Grand Bahama Shipyard, Freeport, The Bahamas
The Grand Bahama Shipyard has dry docks that can accommodate vessels up to 300 metres in length. In late 2023, the shipyard commissioned the construction of two floating docks, which it hopes to have operational by 2026.
In the first half of 2024 the shipyard completed numerous cruise ship refurbishment projects, including a month-long dry dock for Royal Caribbean International’s Grandeur of the Seas. The team refreshed cabins and carried out scheduled maintenance and technical upgrades on the 28-year-old ship. In another notable project, the shipyard repaired Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Freedom in March following a fire in its funnel.
Fayard, Munkebo, Denmark
Catering to passenger vessels since 1916, Fayard has four large graving dry docks and plenty of berth, as well as a safe anchorage area close to the Fayard workshops. All dry docks and berths are well covered with cranes which offer a lifting capacity of up to 1,200 tonnes. The largest dry dock is 415 metres long by 90 metres wide.
The shipyard dry docks more than 130 vessels per year and so far in 2024 has completed projects onboard numerous ships, including Lindblad Expeditions’ expedition vessels National Geographic Endurance and National Geographic Resolution, as well as Fjord Line’s ferries Stavangerfjord and Fjord FSTR, Irish Ferries’ Isle of Inisheer, Scandlines’ ferry Berlin, and Color Line Marine’s Color Fantasy.
Chantier Naval de Marseille, France
The Port of Marseille’s shipyard has three dry docks, including its 465-metre long, 85-metre-wide dry dock, which is the largest in the Mediterranean.
In March the shipyard completed a refurbishment project onboard Celebrity Cruises’ ship Celebrity Infinity. The ship was upgraded to include new aft Sunset Suites featuring large private balconies designed to enable passengers to watch sunsets. The Retreat Lounge (formerly Michael’s Club) was also redecorated with a new colour palette, while private restaurant Luminae at The Retreat was expanded.
At the end of April, Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Legend arrived for a month-long drydock. The yard completed general maintenance and routine repairs, and also renovated public spaces. New additions to the ship included the Heroes Tribute Bar & Lounge; Chef’s Table; and a mini golf course located on the first deck.
Fincantieri, Italy
Fincantieri Services oversees maintenance and repair projects for several cruise vessels in its shipyards, maintaining a steady workload this year.
So far in 2024, Fincantieri has completed dry dock for Oceania Cruises’ Marina and Silversea’s Silver Whisper at its Palermo and Trieste shipyards, respectively. It has seven major projects planned for the second half of 2024.
Fincantieri has also been expanding its services globally, including in the USA through Fincantieri Services USA. In addition, it is focusing on green technologies, installing high-voltage shore power connection systems, and ensuring Americans with Disabilities Act compliance in cabins.
Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam repainted Stena Britannica and Stena Hollandica with sustainable coatings
Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam, Netherlands
Established in 1957, the shipyard in Rotterdam is one of the largest in Western Europe with a dry dock that’s 405 metres long by 90 metres wide.
Stena Line’s Stena Britannica and Stena Hollandica both spent 18 days in dry dock at Damen Shiprepair in Rotterdam in early 2024. They were updated with new restaurants and bars, modern and rearranged seating areas, which increased passenger capacity.
To remove the old paint, each ship’s underwater hull was hydro-blasted, a technique which is not only a sustainable alternative to grit or sand blasting, but also more efficient, allowing the shipyard to complete the project in a short time frame. The ships were then repainted with sustainable coatings. Stena Hollandica was painted with X-GIT Low Friction from GIT Coatings, while Stena Britannica was repainted using silicon, which contains no biocides. Both marine coatings have been designed to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. Each vessel’s propellers were also polished to help reduce friction in the water.
Metalships & Docks, Vigo, Spain
Spanish company Metalships & Docks was founded in 1975 and is devoted to shipbuilding and ship repairs. The ship repair division has been working continually for over 30 years, carrying out both planned and emergency repairs and upgrades on a wide range of vessels.
Metalships recently carried out several steel jobs onboard Quark Expeditions’ Ocean Explorer while the ship was in a month-long dry dock. In April, Adventure Canada’s Ocean Endeavour underwent several repair jobs on its stabilisers and freshwater tanks. The ship repair team also carried out several steel works, painted and treated the hull topsides and repaired several valves.
Navantia, Cadiz, Spain
Navantia boasts seven dry docks with lengths between 58 and 386 metres, the largest of which is 66 metres wide and has 440,000 deadweight tonnage capacity. The company is continuing to grow in the cruise ship repair market, reporting that it has repaired more cruise ships at its Cadiz facility over the past two years than any other yard.
During the first half of 2024, Navantia has completed refurbishment projects on Carnival Cruise Lines’ Carnival Vista, Carnival Sunrise, Carnival Firenze and Carnival Glory, Windstar Cruises’ yacht Star Pride, Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Equinox, Ponant’s L’Austral and Scenic Group’s Polar Class 6 luxury discovery yacht Scenic Eclipse, which was upgraded to include many features that debuted on sister ship Scenic Eclipse II. This included the addition of a KLAFS relaxation room, infrared sauna seats, three salt therapy and three heated relaxation lounges in its Senses Spa, as well as updates to outdoor dining venues.
Navantia’s Cadiz shipyard is expecting to repair a further nine cruise vessels in 2024, bringing the total number of cruise ship repairs to 17 by the end of the year.
A&P Falmouth, UK
Home to one of the world’s largest natural deep-water harbours, A&P Falmouth’s facility is one of the biggest ship repair complexes in the UK. A&P Falmouth provides a complete range of marine repair services, thanks to its three large graving docks and extensive alongside deep-water berthing providing capacity for vessels up to 100,000gt.
In 2024, A&P Falmouth has successfully completed projects on four of Red Funnel’s passenger ferries, all of which arrived for annual repairs. The shipyard used its No3 Dock to accommodate Red Eagle and Red Kestrel simultaneously. The scope of works included hull cleaning and blasting, painting, replacing steel in the hulls, tank cleaning, various inspections and other survey-associated work. A&P Falmouth has also undertaken several projects for P&O Ferries, Irish Ferries, Wightlink and Stena Line in 2024.
Cammell Laird has worked on three Stena Line vessels, along with several CalMac Ferries and Mersey Ferries ships
Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, UK
Located next to Liverpool Cruise Terminal, Cammell Laird’s yard offers full drydock facilities for medium-size cruise ships. Cammell Laird’s facility covers 130 acres and includes four dry docks, a non-tidal wet basin and one of the largest modular construction halls in Europe.
Since the start of 2024, Cammell Laird has worked on three Stena Line vessels: Stena Edda, Stena Embla and Stena Adventurer. Stena Adventurer was the ninth ship to dock in the season and underwent a large programme of works, including extensive steel deck repairs, an overhaul of the main propulsion system and other auxiliary works, such as roller fairlead overhauls. Cammell Laird’s first double docking of 2024 saw CalMac Ferries’ Hebrides and Mersey Ferries’ Royal Iris of the Mersey simultaneously undergoing repair works in Number 6 dock.
Harland & Wolff, Belfast, UK
The 327,795-square-metre Belfast shipyard has two dry docks: one at 556 metres long and 93 metres wide, and the other at 335 metres long and 50 metres wide. With an influx of ships and limited dock space, Harland & Wolff is focused on upgrading and expanding its facilities to support vessel maintenance and revitalisation, and fulfil its aim of establishing a Cruise Centre of Excellence.
Among the multiple projects the shipyard has worked on so far in 2024 is Margaritaville at Sea’s Islander, which spent four months in dry dock undergoing comprehensive repainting, redesign and cabin refurbishment work. In April, Harland & Wolff welcomed Villa Vie Residences’ ship Villa Vie Odyssey. The ship, which was formerly operated by Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, had been laid up in Edinburgh, Scotland, since 2020 and as such required a substantial amount of work. The team completely rebuilt the pool deck, created an onboard business centre and installed new rudder stocks (read more about the ship in our exclusive interview with Villa Vie Residences’ CEO Mikael Petterson on page 56).
Seatrium Tuas Boulevard Yard, Singapore
With seven dry docks, Seatrium Tuas Boulevard yard can accommodate an array of vessels. Its largest dry dock is 412 metres long by 66 metres wide.
In January 2024, Princess Cruises’ Diamond Princess spent 14 days in drydock undergoing upgrades. These included the addition of a new outdoor Movies Under the Stars screen, LED lighting on the pool deck, and carpets, light fixtures and flatscreen TVs in the casino. Treatment rooms in the Lotus Spa & Fitness Center were also upgraded, as were the digital audio systems in the Princess Theatre, Explorers Lounge and Club Fusion.
From mid-February to early April, Royal Caribbean International’s 2002-built Navigator of the Seas was in dry dock at the Tuas Boulevard yard, where the team carried out maintenance work and installed new carpeting and upholstery in public areas and cabins.
Discover more insights like this in the Autumn/Winter 2024 issue of Cruise & Ferry Review. Don’t miss out - subscribe for FREE to get the next issue delivered directly to your inbox.