By
Rebecca Gibson |
As the industry gears up for another busy cruise season in the Caribbean, it’s business as usual for Grand Bahama Shipyard, with the Port of Freeport-based ship repair company managing a variety of projects including reefer, container, tanker, heavy lift, local harbour tugs and shoreside fabrication work.
Graham Couser, the yard’s senior vice president of sales, marketing and project development, explains that each and every single project has its own unique set of challenges to contend with, but its Grand Bahama’s ability to listen to its customers, put in place firm plans to develop its facilities and continually respond to the latest developments in the industry that allows it to maintain its reputation as one of the leading cruise ship repair yards in the world.
“We’ve positioned ourselves to deal with even the most challenging projects,” says Couser. “Cruise ships are only getting bigger, which makes refits and repairs more complex than ever. But at the same time we must complete the work in as short a timeframe as possible, as cruise lines want to minimise how long their vessels are out of service.”
To keep up, the yard constantly engages with its cruise customers to gauge and understand their requirements going forward. “We develop the docking schedules for the cruise sector more than 18 months in advance,” says Couser. “We then plan their docking and refit programmes, with prefabrication, engagements and detailed planning commencing a year out. When you consider that we handle in excess of 20 cruise ships per year, the demands on our resources are high. Planning is key.”
One of the jewels in Grand Bahama’s offering is its expertise in pod maintenance, which was put to the test earlier this year when, for the first time in the world, it carried out repairs to the propulsion system on Royal Caribbean International’s Allure of the Seas while it was in wetdock.
Indeed, the yard constantly upgrades its facilities to cater to the most demanding projects. “We’re always looking to improve our material handling equipment and our dock crane capacity,” Couser explains. “Lately we have invested heavily in upgrading our ‘North Beach’ berth, which will give us a fully-serviced berth and a large lay-down area suitable for prefabrication of outfitted units. We have also added tracks for a recently purchased crane, which will be operational in 2015. Dredging is also in progress on one of our berths, taking the average water depth to 22m and creating two pits so that we can change thrusters without have to go dry.”
To ensure ongoing excellence at the yard, Grand Bahama is currently in the midst of the selection process for its 2014 apprentice programme intake. “We are delighted with our programme and the formidable results that are being achieved by the participants,” says Couser. “Only last week we held a celebration lunch for an apprentice who will be sponsored by the company to further his studies on a full-time basis at a university in the US. This is the third apprentice that we have encouraged to go down this route. One is now a ship manager and the other fronts our business development activities for our cruise sector. It’s great to know that our global reputation for quality and timely delivery is in safe hands for the future.”
This article appeared in the Autumn/Winter 2014 edition of International Cruise & Ferry Review. To read other articles, you can subscribe to the magazine in printed or digital formats.