Polarstern revamp at LWB

The yard stay, which lasted nearly two months, is the latest official repair, overhaul and maintenance project at LWB on the government-owned ship since 1989. If all goes to plan, the 32 year old HDW-built Polarstern, operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) and managed by Reederei Laeisz, will undergo a few more years of overhauls before being retired from service.

The vessel is being replaced by a €450 million newbuilding of the same name. Latest word is that it will happen in 2019 as part of a €850 million government programme covering four new research ships.

The new Polarstern is likely to be as big and sophisticated as her predecessor, which is 118m long and 25m wide and also functions as a double-hulled icebreaker coping with ice 1.5 m thick at a speed of some five knots. It has four Klöckner-Deutz RBV 8 M 540 engines of total 14,116 KW and the latest work at LWB included the overhaul of two of those engines, the AWI said.

LWB Technical Director Thorsten Beiler told Maritime Journal: “The ship’s 4.2m diameter propellers were also overhauled, shafts were drawn and overhauled, gaskets renewed and the ship’s port stern tube bushes and a bow thruster overhauled. A water ballast treatment system was installed and standard repairs and conservation as well as blasting were carried out.”

By Tom Todd