Magnetic Patch Designed to Speed Ship Fix
The use of magnetic patches has reportedly resulted in the oil field supply ship CM Service returning to work in just 60 days after its hull was holed in the Caspian Sea. The 54 m vessel was on supply duties offshore Kazakhstan when it hit an uncharted object that ripped two holes in its hull plating just below the engine room. There were no injuries but the engine room was flooded and a diver's inspection revealed two gashes, one 60 by 20 cm and the other 80 by 10 cm. The ship was 300 miles from the nearest dry dock in Baku. The fix: an Emergency Response Bag of magnetic patches was flown-in from Miko Marine AS in Norway. The magnetic patches were quickly fitted over the holes by in-house and contract divers who added reinforcing with supplementary high-power magnets. Once in place, the magnetic patches enabled the engine room to be pumped partly dry and the ship was under tow to Baku within six hours. At the end of a two day voyage conducted at 5 knots, the CM Service entered a dry dock in Baku where the patches were found to be completely intact with the supplementary magnets undisturbed by the voyage. "The magnetic patches proved to be a major benefit to us," said George Macleod, director of Caspian Mainport, the ship's owner. "It is a fantastic system as it saved us a huge amount of time and money. It could have been a very complicated repair job but the magnetic patches got us out of a difficult situation and the ship has now gone back to work." Email: info@miko.no
Morten Steen Martinsen, managing director BW Fleet Management (left) shakes hands with ASRY's CEO Chris Potter (right) in Bahrain following the signing of the expanded fleet repair agreement.
ASRY recently renewed and expanded its Fleet Repair Agreement with leading tanker operator BW Fleet Management, a long term customer at the Bahrain yard. The new repair agreement was signed by Morten Steen Martinsen, managing director of BW Fleet Management and Potter. The Norwegian company, which operates out of both Oslo and Singapore, manages a fleet of more than 90 vessels operated by BW Gas and BW Maritime, and the ASRY repair agreement involves those crude oil tankers, product tankers and LPG carriers that trade to the Ara-
bian Gulf, giving guaranteed dock space and fixed rates. It could see 14 vessels repaired at the Bahrain yard and is the largest fleet repair agreement currently at ASRY. "We have an open and transparent dialogue with the shipyard," said Martinsen. BW ships have been coming to ASRY since the yard's early days. Bergesen, as the company was then known as, has been drydocking in Bahrain since 1980 and signed its first fleet agreement in 1999. The first four vessels to be drydocked and repaired under the new
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