DryDock Magazine recently interviewed Harun (Aaron) Duzgoren (CCO), and Kevin Peters (Director, Technical Sales & Environmental Services) about a significant 100+ tonne rudder repair operation carried out afloat on a fully laden mainline container vessel.

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Excerpt from the article:

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Three R’s of rudders; removal, repair, and re-installation

Subsea Global Solutions has over five decades of experience pioneering underwater repair solutions. There are many ship husbandry problems that do not at first appear solvable whilst the vessel remains afloat (especially when laden), requiring drydock facilities to be properly addressed. Our experience has taught us when - thinking in the water - that many of these problems can be resolved in cost effective, safe, whilst fully meeting class approval and manufacturer installation requirements.

Regarding rudder removals, these are not usually planned “elective” maintenance services, and knock-on delays arise from lack of suitable dry-dock availability at a time or place of need, and the associated costs of incurring days off-hire to charterers and cargo interests. 

With the current situation in the shipping world more and more services have a cost-benefit to being completed with in-water solutions, and without major interruptions. In the past years, cruise and commercial vessels have employed SGS to perform many “dry-dock” services as in-water - allowing the vessels to maintain their cruising schedule and arrange the work around their port stays.  To provide some examples of how this works in practice, a few examples of works possible.

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