Greek Ferry Owners Look West to Gibdock
Nissos Chios (Photo: Gibdock)
Express Santorini (Photo: Gibdock)
Greek ferry owners are stressing the importance of high quality, reliable ship repair partners in the Western Med in the first half of 2016, according to ship repair yard Gibdock who says it has received two first time ship visits emphasizing the Gibraltar yard’s ability to meet contrasting ship renewal needs.
The Hellas Seaways ro-pax vessel Nissos Chios and the Portucalence Shipping Company ferry Express Santorini were both in the Gibdock yard for the first time recently, the former undergoing a broad spectrum of scheduled repairs and the latter in for emergency structural renewal. Both ships are deployed seasonally in the Western Med, with Nissos Chios operating on the mainland Europe-North Africa route and Express Santorini connecting to the Azores, before returning to Eastern Med services during the winter.
In addition to Second Special Survey work undertaken in Gibdock’s No.2 dock, the Elefsis Shipyards-built Nissos Chios underwent a scheduled stern ramp removal and renewal, including fabrication, bush replacement and pin overhauls. The 141m length ferry’s bow thruster also needed to be dismantled and removed to the yard’s workshop for blade and seal replacement. Despite the fact that stern ramp work proved more extensive than had been anticipated, the complete job was carried out within the owner’s 15-day time window.
Meanwhile, the Express Santorini project highlighted Gibdock’s flexible approach to owner requests, with a slot found between other scheduled dry dockings for emergency repairs to ballast tank number 19 behind the forepeak tank, despite a three-day turnaround at the height of the yard’s seasonal ferry work period. The 42-year old, 115.4m length vessel went into No.3 dock, with the timely turnaround requiring 24-hour working patterns, and redelivery accomplished on time, on budget and to class specifications.
