By
Rebecca Gibson |
This article was first published in the Autumn/Winter 2016 issue of International Cruise & Ferry Review. All information was correct at the time of printing, but may since have changed.
Based in Freeport, Grand Bahama Shipyard Ltd. (GBSL) had a strong first quarter followed by a booming second quarter. GBSL drydocked Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Valor and worked simultaneously and consecutively on Carnival Sunshine, Royal Caribbean International’s Majesty of the Seas, Holland America Line’s Prisendam and Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Dawn. In addition to providing extensive logistical support for major interior refurbishment and revitalisation work, GBSL also fulfilled classification requirements, steel work, pipe work and extensive hull coatings on all vessels. GBSL fulfilled upgrades, renovations and retrofits on other vessels.
According to GBSL’s vice president of sales and marketing Graham Couser, the trick to successfully delivering high quality work while managing so many complex projects in short succession is dedicated forward planning.
“A project team begins working with the customer preferably a year before the project starts to understand the scopes of supply, objectives and what works will be involved,” he explains. “Information about projects is entered into a matrix to identify the necessary resources, detailing labour, equipment and materials. Its our most valuable tool, ensuring each project is adequately serviced when the docks and yard are full.”
To make the process more efficient, this January GBSL purchased a GEDA Equipment and Personnel Elevator to allow for the movement of people and materials from the dock floor to various decks, relieving pressure on dock cranes.
“Around 1,000 containers are used per revitalisation project and these must be sequenced on the pier before being lifted onboard,” comments Couser. “This places excessive demand on dock cranes and yard space. Space onboard ships is limited so lifting, positioning, emptying and removing containers must be performed like a military operation. The GEDA Equipment and Personnel Elevator, which can lift two tonnes, improves the overall efficiency of operations, speeding up the supply of materials, ensuring we meet the very tight schedules required to successfully complete the work.”
GBSL also invested in a Munkebo 2000 Abrasive Recovery System, Flow UHP Blasting equipment and six Waterjet Robotics Blasting Robots, four of which are capable of blasting 400sqm per day and two capable of blasting 1,000sqm per day. Couser says: “This equipment allows us to complete extensive hull treatment work efficiently and reduces ‘on dock’ repair time usually driven by hull and tank surface preparation/blasting. We’ve had great feedback from the owners and contractors.”
“As the Caribbean’s largest ship repair yard, we’ve committed to continual upgrading of our existing workshops, purchasing additional logistics machinery and improving and expanding our wet berth capabilities,” says Couser, adding that GBSL is also investing in its team. “We recently added a HSEQA vice president, appointed a vice president of operations, a cruise project development consultant, a yard development manager and three international sales consultants to our management team. Their prime objectives are to develop future projects with customers and to ensure we have the required processes, qualified labour, facilities, equipment and tooling available to efficiently complete projects. We monitor industry developments to ensure we’re abreast of the latest technologies.”