Seaspan reports that its Vancouver Drydock shipyard in North Vancouver, BC, has completed a five week refit of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs’ special purpose/cable layer vessel Ile de Batz.
The wide scope of work included retrofitting the ship with a Bio-Sea ballast water treatment system (BWTS) and assembly of a new plow along with overall support for mobilizing sthe ship.
Although the BWTS retrofit was a first of its kind for Vancouver Drydock, all work was completed on schedule and the Ile de Batz departed Vancouver June 1 with the Bio-Sea system installed.
While the BWTS work itself was a new type of refit project for VDC, the technology used in the installation process was also a first for the yard. The Bio-Seasystem was installed with the assistance of state-of-the-art robotic pipe welding machines developed by Novarc Technologies, a North Vancouver-based company. Using advanced control techniques, these cutting-edge, collaborative robotic systems — which will be used across Seaspan’s shipyards in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island — allow pipe welding tasks to be done dramatically more effectively and efficiently.
With the coming into force of the IMO Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention, some 60,000 vessels worldwide will have to be retrofitted with BWT systems before 2022 result in an increased demand for BWT system installation among organizations offering ship repair and dry docking services.
“This innovative repair and maintenance project truly was an all-hands-on-deck job, and marks the start of a proud new chapter in Vancouver Drydock’s world-class service offerings,” said Paul Hebson – Vice President and General Manager, Vancouver Drydock. “Over the course of the project we employed almost 60 workers, delivering quality services around the clock. I couldn’t be happier with the final product, work that clearly exemplifies our commitment to our core value of care for both our customer and the environment. Given Seaspan Shipyard’s strategic location on the West Coast of North America, near the Canada-U.S. border, and with drydock berth space in both Vancouver and Victoria, we will continue to be well positioned for this type of activity for years to come.”
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*Photo credit: Gordon Henderson, Heath Moffatt & Jordan Junck from Seaspan website