This beautiful shallow-draft icebreaking tanker with a length of 249m and an unusually large breadth for its tonnage, of 34m was repaired at Western Shiprepair, one of BLRT REPAIR YARDS, members of BLRT Grupp some time ago.

Project facts:
—         Replacement of steel structures of the hull
—         Replacement of steel in the ballast tanks
—         Hull treatment and painting- total area 13 165m2
—         Repair of different pipelines
—         Repair of el. motors
—         Modernization of the ICCP system
—         Testing of cranes, safety and fire-fighting appliances
—         Other routine jobs

Enjoy the video!

Western Shiprepair and Tallinn Shipyard, members of BLRT Grupp welcome a line of ships from Stolt Tankers

Already for two years, our ship repair yards have been developing a partnership with Norwegian company Stolt Tankers, a well-known global shipping company. They have brought more than one line of its ships to WSR for maintenance. In the last two years, WSR has retrofitted equipment and undertaken maintenance work that cannot be completed whilst the ships are at sea on 15 such ships, 14 this year. A number of ships were also maintained at Tallinn Shipyard.

Quite recently, the WSR team completed maintenance and servicing work on the 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐓 𝐁𝐈𝐒𝐌𝐔𝐓𝐇 in FD 170. The chemical tanker, more than 165 m long and almost 27 m wide, which was built five years ago, has undergone equipment updates to meet the requirements of its class.

A bit earlier, two other tankers, i.e. 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 and 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐓 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄, of Stolt Tankers left the quays of WSR after performing routine maintenance and painting jobs.

According to Andrius Norkus, Project Manager at WSR Production Department, the peculiarity of maintenance tasks of those tankers was its complexity due to the impressive size of the vessels. Each of them was more than 177 m long and 31 m wide. Those were some of the largest vessels docked at FD 170 to date.

According to Vladimir Nazarov, Superintendent of Stolt Tankers, never from the very beginning of the partnership until now have they been disappointed with the quality of services. The yard has earned the name of a reliable and flexible partner who performs high-quality work in a timely manner, therefore we plan to continue our cooperation.

Stolt Tankers  operates a fleet of 152 sophisticated chemical tankers, providing safe, reliable, and high-quality global transportation services for bulk liquid chemicals, edible oils, acids, and clean petroleum products. Its deep-sea fleet is seamlessly integrated with Stolt Tankers’ regional fleets in Europe, Asia and the Caribbean, and inland barging services in Europe and the Gulf Coast of the US.   

Stolt Tankers is a division of Stolt-Nielsen Limited (SNL), a long-term investor and manager of businesses focused on opportunities in logistics, distribution, and aquaculture. The Stolt-Nielsen portfolio consists of its three global bulk liquid and chemicals logistics businesses – Stolt Tankers, Stolthaven Terminals and Stolt Tank Containers – Stolt Sea Farm and investments in LNG. Stolt-Nielsen Limited is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (Oslo Børs: SNI).   

Modification and repair work on the Wasa Express ferry, a Ro-Ro/Passenger Ship, which has recently changed her owner following her acquisition by UME Shipping LLC, is now completed.

The ship should leave Turku Repair Yard, one of BLRT REPAIR YARDS, members of BLRT Grupp on October 1st, and head off to a port in the Red Sea.

The modification and repair of the ferry was a combined effort of Tallinn Shipyard and Turku Repair Yard, both are members of BLRT Grupp.
“The project was divided into two parts: Tallinn Shipyard specialists took on the task of the aft mooring modification whereas the docking and routine repair works were done by our colleagues at Turku Repair Yard,” told Vladislav Tyshkevich, a Project Manager at Tallinn Shipyard. 

According to him, the repair and modification work undertaken was aimed at improving the condition and the operational state of the ship systems and machinery. 

As it happens, this ferry had already been repaired at BLRT REPAIR YARDS: she had been under repairs at Tallinn Shipyard four times — in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019, and, further to that, there had been several afloat repairs on the Vasa-Umeå route. 

Finnish icebreaker fleet of Arctia Ltd prepares for winter navigation and icebreaker support in advance. In early September, Turku Repair Yard, one of BLRT Repair Yards, members of BLRT Grupp, launched a small «flotilla» of ships of the Finnish state-owned company Arctia Ltd — icebreakers Voima, Otso and Polaris – after repairs.

On the world’s oldest operating icebreaker Voima, in addition to the routine repairs, a set of operations was carried out to maintain the vessel’s operability: full overhaul of stern StB and PS propeller shafts, dismantling/mounting of intermediate shafts, thrust bearings and propellers, propeller shafts withdrawal and Cederwall sealing renewal.

“Second icebreaker Polaris arrived at Turku Repair Yard for drydocking in mid-August. It is the most powerful icebreaker ever to sail under the Finnish flag. Built in 2016, the vessel is the first environmentally friendly dual-fuel icebreaker powered by low-sulphur marine diesel and LNG.

Vessel has outstanding manoeuvrability thanks to two aft and one forward Azipod thrusters which underwent full overhaul with the participation of ABB company,” said Roman Andrejev, Turku Repair Yard`s  project manager.

According to him, on the third icebreaker – Otso – a small repair of the underwater part was carried out, and now the vessel is ready for winter navigation.

“It is very important for us that Finnish ships are being repaired home, in Finland. We`ve been cooperating with Arctia Ltd for several years. For example, in 2016, our repair specialists performed an extension of the life cycle of the Voima icebreaker, completely replacing the steel structures of the hull and machinery, repairing the deck equipment and actually rebuilding the underwater part of the icebreaker’s hull, ”Roman Andrejev emphasized.

In July, Tallinn Shipyard, one of BLRT Repair Yards, members of BLRT Grupp carried out another labour-intensive repair project for ESL Shipping Ltd. on board the general cargo vessel TALI

Scope of works included but didnt limit to:
* Cargo cranes dismantling, installation
* Foundations renewal, machining, mounting
* Class renewal
* Cranes` load test

Enjoy the video!

Sergei Kravtsenko, a Member of the Board at Tallinn Shipyard, told reporters that as soon as an inquiry from our long-term partner TS Laevad  was received, our specialists were immediately sent to the site to carry out fault detection directly in the Kuivastu Harbour. The very next day, on July 23, the ferry arrived at Tallinn Shipyard for repairs. 

“The most difficult thing was to find material for the ramp steel replacement within a short time, but we successfully coped with it. Yard`s specialist constructed, painted and already installed the ramp on the ship. We work really hard so that the vessel could leave the shipyard in the coming days and resume sailing after trials,” explained Sergei Kravtsenko.

In turn, the Minister of Economy and Infrastructure of Estonia Taavi Aas and CEO of TS Laevad Indrek Randveer thanked BLRT Grupp and Tallinn Shipyard for their promptness and willingness to repair the ferry in the shortest possible time.

Tallinn Shipyard, one of BLRT REPAIR YARDS, has completed an overhaul and modernization of EVA-316, the Estonian Transport Administration‘s multipurpose vessel.

Extensive overhaul and modernization of EVA-316 project took almost 2 months, out of which 30 days she has spent in the dock, During this time, the team of Tallinn Shipyard reinforced the bow, partially replaced and added about 10 tons of steel, completed repairs and upgrades of marine systems.

Today, on 8 July, EVA-316 set sail to the passenger ferry Estonia accident site to begin preliminary investigations into the new circumstances.

Within 10 days, preparatory investigations of the Estonia wreck and the seabed will be carried out. The results of the preliminary investigations will be used for basic investigation starting in the early spring of 2022.

April and May at Western Shiprepair (WSR), one of BLRT Repair Yards, subsidiaries of BLRT Grupp, passed under the flag of large- scale and complex projects. FD 170 and FD 12 welcomed two impressive vessels belonging to yards long-time partner DEME Group.

Floating dock 12, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒔, welcomed the 154.6 m DP2 Fallpipe vessel FLINTSTONE, which is considered one of the most difficult vessels visiting the yard to date. 

The FLINTSTONE underwent comprehensive and challenging maintenance. List of performed works included but was not limited to overhaul of KONGSBERG retractable thrusters, piping works, an overhaul of deck equipment, cleaning and painting work, other routine repair jobs.

For 69 days floating dock nr. 170 will be occupied by LOA 182.22 m x B 28,0 m trailing suction hopper dredger PEARL RIVER. Hopper capacity is 24 130 m3, total power installed 19 061 kW.

WSR team of more than 200 people is carrying out several works such as steel renewal, repair of dredging equipment, main engine (2 units) overhaul, cleaning and painting of the vessel, other routine jobs. In addition, the list of main works on PEARL RIVER will be replenished with BWTS unit installation to comply with the requirements of the BWM Convention.

Wider docking capacities bring the company new opportunities and allow it to accept larger ships for repairs and maintenance. Workload has already increased by 30 per cent. Manhours spent on projects in March, April and May have gone up tremendously.  

In short, increased perspectives of different ship repair and retrofit projects allow us to secure a solid position in the demanding ship repair market. BLRT Repair Yards will continue to follow a set course and implement technologically complex, large-scale, and ambitious projects for various purposes.

BLRT Repair Yards effectively use increased docking capacities and receive another ambitious order.

Well- known Dutch shipping company Stolt-Nielsen Limited has placed an order for repairs and modernization of 6 vessels. 4 vessels were granted to Western Shiprepair (WSR) in Klaipeda, Lithuania, another 2 to Tallinn Shipyard (TSY) in Tallinn, Estonia

At the end of April, first Stolt-Nielsen Limited vessel, a 91 m long and 16 m wide tanker STOLT GREENSHANK, left the yard in Klaipeda right after our colleagues at WSR carried out special survey repairs to meet the requirements of it`s class and modernized the vessel by installing a ballast water treatment system (BWTS).

But the throne is never empty, next vessel that has been welcomed by the team in Klaipeda was a 159 m long and 25 m wide STOLT BASUTO. The scope of works was similar to STOLT GREENSHANK: special survey and BWTS installation

Increased docking capacity helped to establish solid cooperation with the customer. After the launch of the floating dock 12, the largest FD in the Baltics, WSR could now accept larger vessels of Stolt-Nielsen Limited. And that happened to be an impressive a 166 m long and almost 27 m wide STOLT VIKING.
Almost simultaneously our colleagues at TSY have welcomed STOLT AUK. Both STOLT VIKING and STOLT AUK underwent special survey and became more environmentally friendly by getting BWTS installed.
Same scope of works including BWTS installation will be performed on 90.9m long tanker STOLT SANDERLING by the specialists of TSY during May.

And the cherry on the top on this 6- vessel order list is STOLT INNOVATION. A 177 m long and 31 m wide tanker which is currently undergoing special survey at WSR in Klaipeda.

7 operational docks, out of which 3 are able to accommodate Aframax, Panamax- and Post Panamax type vessels, open up opportunities for the group of yards to increase repair capacities and widen market presence, attract more complex and large-scale projects, improve relations with existing partners and gain more trust with potential customers.

Tallinn Shipyard carried out labor-intensive repair works on the general cargo ship Kallio owned by ESL Shipping LTD, lleading carrier of dry bulk cargoes in the Baltic region.
According to Maksim Scherbakov, Head of Project Management Department at Tallinn Shipyard, yard employees replaced about 120 tons of the ship hull structures within a short period of time.  ‘Our Lithuanian colleagues from Western Baltic Engineering did a simulation of ship hull structural elements including load and stress analyses using the cutting-edge Ansys Mechanical 2020 software. These analyses offered us the possibility to replace worn ship hull elements throughout the entire vessel avoiding intolerable deformations risks.
In addition, Tallinn Shipyard hull production workshop made all necessary preparations having developed respective process procedures and 3D models including inner skin section replacement process visualization.’  

Facts:

• 2500 m³ of scaffolding
• Replacement of 120 tons of the ship hull structures
• Fabrication of 20 inner skin sections
• Painted area 10 000 м² , including ballast tanks and cargo holds
• Maintenance works on the main engine and auxiliaries