Page 20: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2001)

Cruise Shinnine Annual Shin Repair

Curacao Carves A Cruise Niche

Riding the often tumultuous wares of freight rate boom and bust, Curacao

Drydock has carved a unique niche of business in this Caribbean paradise.

Since August 2000 the Curacao Dry- dock Company started to feel the effect of an improving cargo market. The amount of inquiries doubled since the first six months and the amount of book- ings followed soon. Instead of patching of the ships, the owner decided to stop his ship for a few days to make sure the vessel is in good shape, ready to enter the better paid charter.

Times, though, have been different.

In 1998 and 1999, the cargo market was so depressed that owners could not afford to carry out many repairs. The school of thought at this time was to keep the vessel trading as long as possi-

So Many STCW Regulations,

So Little Time!

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Circle 266 on Reader Service Card 115 • E-mail: [email protected]

E-mail: [email protected]

III

A GE TION OF RELIABLE COMMUNICATIONS AT SEA

Nera

VoridPhone

Marine

Nera Saturn Bm

Nera has led maritime communications since 1919 and is the world's leading satellite equipment manufacturer Nera WorldPhone

Marine and Nera Saturn Bm provide secure satellite communications at sea.

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N.»ra WorldPhone

Mai me antenna

Nera Saturn Bm antenna

After a technical research done at the end of

October 1999, Curacao Drydock's production office came with a possibility to modify the dock blocks.

Circle 256 on Reader Service Card

Curacao Drydock decided to invest in a new set of blocks, which we have later called after

Harri Kulovaraa, senior vice president marine operations at RCCL. During an inspection on the grounded vessel Monarch of the Seas in

St. Maarten in 1998, Kulovaraa mentioned to

Curacao's technical inspection team onboard to return to Curacao and modify the dock. ble. As the amount of work was not enough for the yard to survive, yard management decided to explore new markets. During the initial phase of investigation, it became apparent that there was a limited amount of capacity able to dry-dock the newer generation of cruise vessels.

Curacao's A-dock was built especially for the larger tankers calling on the local refinery during the 1970s and for eco- nomical reasons was built on a slope of 1:100. Cruise vessels of the newer gen- eration, however, cannot make this con- dition, and this was one of the primary reasons the yard never pursued the cruise market. In addition, the yard was bustling with activity in the tanker, bulk carrier and container vessel segments.

On March 23, 2000, Vision of the Seas entered Curacao Drydock for a repair period of 17 days. The major focus of the job was the replacement of a 40 tons stator of the propulsion motor. The job was completed within the allotted time frame, and the staff of Royal Caribbean left satisfied. From this repair, the yard learned much about the cruise market and its needs, and summarily plotted a course of investment to ensure it was prepared to meet these needs in the future. To adjust to the requirements of the larger cruise companies, manage- ment of the yard approved an investment plan that included four new generator sets, a fully automated switch board and a sewage plant. On this ship a fully auto- mated Hammelmann Dockmaster was used for water blasting.

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Maritime Reporter/Engineering News