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Lloyd Werft set to tackle Artania overhaul

Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven is expecting Phoenix Reisen’s 213mtr long Artania to arrive in its Kaiserdock II on November 17 for a stay lasting about three weeks.

Mary Bond, Editor in Chief

November 13, 2019

3 Min Read
Credit: Seatrade Cruise News

Along with routine class work more than 250 cabins will be overhauled by the owner.

Artania, which accommodates 1,260 passengers, will initially call at Columbus Cruise Centre after ending a cruise to the Canaries and western Europe on November 17. The ship will then be towed to the nearby shipyard in Bremerhaven.

The ship is scheduled to leave the shipyard around December 6, for its next cruise.

Lloyd Werft has been well-booked for more than two years, says yard head Rüdiger Pallentin.

Public spaces and cabins makeover

Along with the maintenance and classification work being done by Lloyd Werft, the public spaces and cabin refurb work is being carried out directly by the owners.

This work includes a makeover for the Pacific Lounge and Jamaica Club. In addition, carpets, furnishings, wallpapers and many other items are being refurbished and newly designed in more than 200 cabins and public areas. Lloyd Werft is lending logistical support to this work.

Built in 1984 the ship has been on charter to Phoenix Reisen since April 2011 prior to which it underwent a four weeks makeover by Lloyd Werft. Five years ago, four new energy-efficient Wärtsilä main engines were installed on Artania as part of a further comprehensive yard stay at Lloyd Werft.

Multiple visits to Lloyd Werft

The upcoming new contract will mark the fourth occasion Lloyd Werft project manager Jochen Mehrtens has been involved with this cruise ship. ‘At peak times, I can see as many as 120 yard employees taking part in this project,’ he said, ‘added to them will be a colourful array of local supply companies. For those of our employees who are involved currently in a parallel yacht newbuilding project, this contract will come as a welcome change, because we are, after all, a classic repair and conversion shipyard’, explained Mehrtens, himself a marine engineer.

‘The greatest challenge now will be switching over from the well-organised structure of the newbuilding sector to the extreme flexibility of repair work, because the unexpected happens time and time again during a repair contract. It is my job as project manager to bring structure into tasks that change regularly from one moment to the next so that the contract can be completed for the customer with high quality and within the set time framework.’

Technical overhaul

During the weeks that follow, the team from Lloyd Werft will, among other things, renew ventilation shafts and hull anodes. Along with steel repairs to the outer hull and tank top plate areas, exhaust pipes will also be renewed, tanks cleaned and outboard fittings and diverse valves overhauled and the electric motors and the pre-heater on the fuel injection plant serviced.

Albatros bow thruster repairs

This summer another ship which sails for Phoenix Reisen – the now 46 year old Albatros – was drydocked at Lloyd Werft for a week for bow thruster repairs. During its yard stay, Lloyd Werft also carried out small deck and external hull repairs, renewed shaft sealings, installed a new cooling unit in the vessel’s waste incinerator plant and converted a ballast water tank into a bio-sludge tank on which solid deposits from the waste water treatment plants can be collected. Life-boat davits were also overhauled on Albatros after the life-boats and tenders had been set ashore.

About the Author

Mary Bond

Editor in Chief

Mary Bond is Group Director, Seatrade Cruise a division within Informa Markets and responsible for the Seatrade portfolio of global cruise events, print and online cruise publishing.

Mary is also the publisher and editor-in-chief of Seatrade Cruise News and Seatrade Cruise Review magazine.

Mary has worked in the shipping industry for 39 years, first for Lloyd’s Register of Shipping before joining Seatrade’s editorial team in 1985.

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