New overhaul for Gorch Fock

German media quoted Elsflether Werft chairman Klaus Weichmann as indicating the work this year may have cost around €5m. That would be a lot less than what it cost last year, some €8m but possibly as much as €10m according to some reports.

Five or six shipyards put in bids for the work this time. The Marine Arsenal in Wilhelmshaven awarded the contract, for the eighth time, to the Elsflether Werft, reportedly because its bid was the most reasonably priced.

Since the small German shipyard does not have dry dock facilities of its own, it once again leased a dock at the Bremerhaven Dockbetrieb (BREDO) which boasts four docks for vessels up to 12,000 tons as well as alongside berthing facilities.

BREDO MD Dirk Harms told MJ the ship had docked in September and underwent annual regular yard overhaul. Elsflether experts used the dock to carry out underwater work on the Gorch Fock, which is 89.3m LOA, has a hull length of 81.2m and is 12m wide. The three masted barque draws 5.2m and was built at Blohm + Voss in Hamburg in 1958.

Reports said the latest overhaul had taken around three weeks and had covered not only the hull but also the overhaul of the ship’s 1,237kW Deutz MWM 628 diesel, BV6M628 auxiliary plant, which provides 13.7 knots.

Rigging also reportedly underwent safety inspection along with pumping systems, valves and other machinery. The contract this year was also believed to have included the installation of a new satellite system and a repeat inspection of the ship’s welding seams.

The last overhaul was completed in autumn 2012 by Elsflether after a saga that began in late 2011. At that time the German Navy put the barque into Lindenauwerft in Kiel for what was originally expected to be a routine overhaul lasting a few weeks and costing less than €1m.

After inspections uncovered extensive hull rust, the German Navy said the vessel’s condition was much worse than first thought and that repairs would take longer and could cost much more than expected. Bundesmarine spokesman Captain Gunnar Wolff told this correspondent at the time “further hull sections in need of repair have been discovered”.

The contract for more extensive repairs was passed on to Elsflether Werft over a disappointed Lindenau in early 2012. Gorch Fock was moved to BREDO for docking and back to Elsflether for completion before being returned to the Bundesmarine last Autumn, along with a big bill.

By Tom Todd