UK Docks Teesside has had a busy start to the year with the Putford Defender, Seahorse and Isle of Jura all docking for a variety of repairs and inspections in January.
The vessel most extensively worked on was the Putford Defender which docked for a five-yearly inspection and extensive works.
That involved work on the main propulsion Steerprop SP25 azimuth’s, as well as the two Brunvoll FU-63 CPP Bow Thruster Unit overhauls, with both port and starboard units removed and transported to our engineering facility for completion.
As well as work being carried out on the thrusters, and propellers, auxiliary engines port and starboard were removed from the vessel to undertake a full strip down and overhaul in the workshop.
A major overhaul of the main engines was undertaken with full strip down, along with cleaning and testing of Lub oil/After Coolers.
Keel Coolers were removed for testing and repairs, thruster bearing housing was machined and inserted to take new bearing.
Hull and topside painting was applied, while vessel pumps and valves were opened for inspection with repairs and renewals undertaken.
Unlike the Putford Defender, the Seahorse made an unscheduled stop.
She put into Teesside in order to make a change to a main propeller blade and has now successfully returned to her important duties.
The vessel is a 25-metre Multicat designed specifically by Damen Shipyards for UK Dredging, which operates Britain’s largest dredging fleet.
The Seahorse mainly operates as a bed leveller and its 10-metre plough is capable of working at a depth of 30 metres.
The Multicat form provides the stability to assist in dredging support, to handle floating pipelines and to act as a marine working platform.
The final vessel, the Isle of Jura, marked a new customer for UK Docks - Seafast Marine.
The Isle of Jura entered the dockyard for a five-year survey and a 10-day package of works.
Work included repainting, tank cleaning, polish and crack detection of five thruster props, anchor chain calibrations, switchboard cleans and checks and sea valve overhauls,
There were also annual firefighting and survival equipment inspections and annual load tests of cranes and davits as well as inspection of lifting equipment, switchboard, breaker inspections and IR Testing.
Torque inspections on the Main Crane slewing bolts and the supply and fitting of hydraulic hoses for Main Cranes was also carried out.
Because of the Isle of Jura's busy workload, the work on Teesside had to be carried out on a strict timescale and the team on Teesside was pleased to see all the work successfully carried out and the vessel undocked as planned and on time.