Small ship work points up yard flexibility

Recent work booked by one of those yards, Lindenau Schiffswerft, and covering the refit of a sea tug and the repair of a small cargo ship was only made possible by co-operation involving sister yards ADM Kiel and Nobiskrug in Rendsburg. The three are part of Privinvest – the ADM Germany group.

Lindenau personnel used ADM Kiel facilities to tackle work on the 26.5m local sea tug Holtenau. Lindenau dock master Falk Wirbuleit explained: “because both our docks and those of our sister company ADM Kiel were fully occupied, we decided to simply lift Holtenau out of the water and carry out the work on land”.

The 204gt, 26.5m long Holtenau was lifted by crane and placed on blocks provided by Lindenau so that her cooling system could be more easily removed prior to repair and overhaul.

The 8.5m wide tug, built more than 30 years ago at the Johann Oelkers Shipyard in Hamburg, is one of several operated by local shipping concern Schlepp und Fährgesellschaft Kiel (SFK). Drawing 4 m it has two six-cylinder MWM engines Type TBD 440-6 of 720kW apiece and two Schottel rudder propellers developing a free speed of 11.6 knots. Holtenau has a bollard pull of 28.5 tons.

ADM group yard co-operation was tested a second time when bottom damage repair on the 98.2m Dutch general cargo ship Lady Hester at Lindenau proved more difficult than originally thought. The yard said it was only after the two-year-old ship had berthed in Dock 2 that it become clear the extent of the damage was far greater than first believed.

Since Lady Hester had to be repaired quickly to fulfill charter obligations, ADM had to call in an additional fifteen experienced welders and shipbuilders from Nobiskrug and ADM Kiel to help Lindenau personnel. Group repair chief Bernd Wittorf said “the project was a perfect example of the co-operation among our three yards”.

Wittorf also reported the yard had been busy with work on other small cargo vessels. Extensive steel repairs were reported on an unidentified pontoon and propeller damage repair on the 89m general cargo ship Isidor. A third cargo ship, the 90.4m Mai Lehmann, called for repair of sea damage to its bulbous bow and stern as well as class work and blasting and conservation – an indication of increasing work variety at Lindenau.

Finally the yard docked the 28.5 m charter yacht Merkur 11 for replacement of a grey water tank. Project head Klaus-Dieter Schmidt said that had been a challenging task because the tank was integrated and had to be exchanged directly through the hull.

By Tom Todd