Balmoral Grows in Rapid Refit
November was a busy month for the former Norwegian Cruise Lines vessel ‘ Norwegian Crown’ which sailed from New York to Hamburg to come off charter and be redelivered to owner Fred Olsen Cruise Lines.
A new 30.2m mid-ship section lay ready at the Hamburg yard of Blohm + Voss Repair, which set to work directly on lengthening and conversion works as part of a comprehensive refit and refurbishment.
The section had been launched from Schichau Seebeckwerft in October and arrived at Blohm + Voss 24 days later. Fred Olsen took over the Norwegian Crown in New York on 5 November and it sailed across the Atlantic with a crew of approximately 100 workers on board. It arrived at Blohm + Voss on 16 November and the fore-ship was pulled five days later. The mid-ship section was inserted and aligned on 22 November and the fore-ship pulled back the next day. The new section extends the vessel, now renamed ‘Balmoral’, from 187.71m to 217.91m LOA.
The new mid-ship section measures 28 metres in breadth with a turn key weight of approximately 3,500 tons. The fitting took place at Blohm + Voss Repair in their dry dock ELBE 17. The dock has a length of 351m, is 59m wide and has capabilities for ships of up to 320,000 dwt.
During the conversion, separation of the electrical cables, lines and pipe systems had to take place and some 160km of new cables had to be fitted.
Fitting out of the entire vessel continues, with sea trials to take place next month before the reborn and bigger Balmoral embarks on its maiden cruise from Dover to the Canary Islands on 30 January.
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