Page 19: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 2021)

SHIP OF THE MONTH GLOBAL MERCY

Mercy Ships is known globally for its charitable work performing medical procedures in developing countries. For the ? rst time, the organization has a new ship, Global Mercy, recently delivered from a shipyard in China. Jim Paterson,

Marine Executive Consultant, Mercy Ships takes us inside the construction of the world’s largest civilian hospital ship.

By Greg Trauthwein im Paterson already had a career and Chief Engineer’s Certi? -

GLOBAL MERCY EQUIPMENT LIST cate when he joined Mercy Ships nearly 34 years ago, in search

Ship Name: .......................................................Global Mercy of a life change to make a difference. “I sailed commercially

Ship Type: .......................................................Hospital Ship

J for a few years and traveled the world and saw some really sad

Ship Builder: ..............................Tianjin Xingang Shipyard

Material: .........................................................................Steel spots,” said Paterson. “I remember being up the river in Guayaquil in

Ship Owner: ........................................................Mercy Ships

Ecuador and there were people begging for food … they were just so

Ship Operator: ...................................................Mercy Ships

Ship Designer: ...................................................Deltamarin hungry. I got to know my minister back home, and I said, ‘This world

Delivery Date: .............................................June 16, 2021

Classi? cation: ...........................................Passenger Ship just seems a mess. What can I do to make a difference?’”

His minister encouraged him to join an organization where he could

Main Particulars

Length, (o.a.): .................................................................174 m leverage his marine engineer skills, which is how he found Mercy

Length, (b.p.): ................................................................167 m

Ships. “We had Anastasis, our ? rst ship, and I made an application. I

Breadth, (molded): ......................................................28.6 m

Depth, (molded): ...........................................................9.5 m thought we would do two years and go back home again … but here we

Draft, (designed): ...........................................................6.1 m are 34 years later.”

Draft, (scantling): ........................................................... 6.4 m

DWT (at design draft): ..................................................6,523

Paterson and his growing family spent eight years onboard ship, but

Speed: ......................12 knots service, 14 knots top speed “as the kids grew and the cabins weren’t getting any bigger,” he came

Fuel Type: ...............................................................HFO/ MGO

Main engines: ...2 x ABB Azipod CO1400L 4 blades 3.8m ashore and made home in East Texas by the Mercy Ships headquarters, .......................................................diameter propulsion units

Total installed power: .......................................4 x2, 880kW effectively starting the Mercy Ships Marine Operations Department.

Bow Thrusters: ...........................................1 x Berg 1500kW “Prior to that, we did everything from the ship itself: we organized the

Propellers: .........2 x ABB Azipod CO1400L 4 blades 3.8m .......................................................diameter propulsion units dry dock, spare parts, everything. It was quite complicated back then, as

Diesel Generators: ........4 x Wartsila 6L32 2,880kW each there wasn’t email; we had to do everything by fax. It was much easier .......................................driving ABB Alternators 690V 60Hz

Engine controls: .....................................................Kongsberg once we established the marine operations department here. With the in-

Radars: ...........................Furuno x2 FAR2127; x1 FAR3000 troduction of the ISM Code, it was actually about to become a require-

Depth Sounders: .............................................Furuno FE-800

Auto Pilot: .....................................................Keiki PR-9000-E ment.” With Anastasis approaching the end of its service life, the orga-

Radios: Furuno SSB FS 2575C; x2 Furuno VHF FM-8900S

AIS: ..............................................................Furuno x2 FA-170 nization found itself in need of a new ship. After much searching and

GPS: ............................................................Furuno x3 GP170 inspecting various secondhand tonnage, it opted to convert a retired

GMDSS: .......................Furuno x2 Felcom 18, 1 Felcom 19,

SatCom: ........................................................Furuno FB-8000

Danish rail ferry ship in the U.K. “The conversion took longer than

Mooring equipment: ........MacGregor x5 mooring winches expected, and we put that ship (Africa Mercy) into service in 2007; but ...200EW, MacGregor x2 anchor windlass/mooring winch

Fire extinguishing systems: .....SEMCO. Watermist system we had already started to dream about another ship,” said Paterson. Liv-

Fire detection system: ...........................................Consilium ing through the pitfalls of a conversion project, the organization started

Heat exchangers: .............................Alfa Laval, Heatmaster

Motor starters: .......Vacon, ABB Variable Frequency Drives exploring a newbuild, and 2010 the decision was taken by the board to

Lifeboats: . Pal? nger x2 130 Person plus Pal? nger 2 x 70 pursue new construction. “We weren’t used to building new ships, our ...............................person combined Lifeboat Rescue Boat

Liferafts: .........................Viking x 10 25 Person in? atables broker friend Gilbert Walter from BRS introduced us to Stena RoRo,

Coatings: .........................................................................Jotun

Ballast Water Management System: ....................Headway who had experience building ships,” said Paterson. So in partnership

Deck Cranes ..............KGW x2 with two hooks 31T and 5T with Stena RoRo, a Tender Package was prepared and a bid package

Stores and Passenger elevators ................................(6) Kone

Hospital equipment ........ Phillips Cat Scan, Steris washer was sent out by BRS to 12 globally, with Tianjin Shipyard in Tianjin, disinfectors/sterilizers, etc.

China, emerging the winner to build the world’s largest civilian hospital ship.

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