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Shipbuilding, maintenance & repairs


though yards were already busy with ongoing construction projects. For Ulstein, this meant continuing work on two vessels for Lindblad Expeditions. The National Geographic Endurance was successfully completed in 2020, while its sister vessel, the National Geographic Resolution, will be delivered in 2021. Other shipyards also completed orders under Covid-19 restrictions. For instance, the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France, delivered the 331m-long MSC Virtuosa, the second vessel in the Meraviglia Plus class. Since then, MSC Cruises has signed a deal with Chantiers to build the third and fourth LNG-powered MSC World Class ships. In early 2021, the Costa Toscana was floated out to the outfitting pier at Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland. Every step towards the completion of these vessels is a testament to the efforts of shipyards having to adapt quickly to an unprecedented situation. “Handling Covid-19 is and has been costly,” Olsen says. “It demands many resources and a focus on all levels in the organisation, but our efforts have given results. To date, we have managed to keep Covid-19 away from our premises and that has been the main goal from day one.”


Planning and perseverance At every shipyard, it has been vital to implement major changes to working practices as quickly as possible, but equally important has been close collaboration with partners throughout the supply chain. “In the early days, the pandemic had reached other countries before it reached Norway, and several equipment factories in other countries closed down,” Olsen explains. “Thus, the pandemic had a negative impact on our projects already from an early stage. On a daily basis, we needed to handle the uncertainty of logistics, particularly related to the delivery of equipment.” A project such as the Resolution, a state-of- the-art polar expedition cruise ship, depends on equipment with customised specifications, as well as high-quality workmanship, so any disruption to the supply chain could have catastrophically disrupted the shipyard’s progress. The 126-guest Polar Class 5 Category A vessel features innovative design features, not least the Ulstein X-BOW, a distinctive bow that not only improves fuel efficiency, but also increases guest comfort when the vessel is navigating rough seas. Furthermore, the ship’s expanded fuel and water tanks provide for extended operations in remote areas, and its zero-speed stabilisers provide greater stability. “In the last part of 2020, the pandemic situation was exacerbated in Europe and several countries closed their borders,” Olsen says. “This created a very difficult situation as a large number of our workers live outside Norway. However, in close cooperation with our subcontractors and in agreement with the personnel already present at Ulstein’s site,


World Cruise Industry Review / www.worldcruiseindustryreview.com


we managed to reduce the negative impact by extending the relevant workers’ stay. Instead of having a new shift arriving, the existing shift stayed on for a longer period, which was a great relief to us.” For those workers, health monitoring was essential to keep work progressing uninterrupted.“We followed up on the national requirements for testing and quarantine restrictions and established a dedicated team for close follow-up and control,” Olsen adds. “Through a combination of thorough planning management, an experienced project team and close cooperation with the shipowner’s site team, we handled 2020 with no other major changes to our working practices.”


Equally important was the yard’s collaboration with cruise line operators to keep them informed of progress and to ensure full transparency. “We cooperate very closely with our customers,” Olsen emphasises. “They have their site team at Ulstein Verft, so we meet them on a daily basis. We delivered the first vessel in March 2020, only days after Norway closed down due to the pandemic. Covid-19 has undoubtedly had a negative impact on our ongoing projects. However, through several mitigation measures, we have managed to substantially reduce that negative impact, though the pandemic still creates uncertainties going forward.”


“Our meticulous follow-up has made us able to keep shipbuilding going. We have now two trained Covid-19 teams, which in the future can be assembled again to handle similar situations.” Lars Lühr Olsen, Ulstein Verft


Planning ahead, Olsen recognises that many of the changes that have been made to accommodate Covid restrictions will stay in place, even beyond the pandemic. The lessons learnt in 2020 will inform how the yard ensures its readiness for similar unpredictable circumstances in the future. “We have kept very strict quarantine restrictions and secured sufficient quarantine facilities to keep many workers in isolation if they have positive Covid-19 results,” Olsen explains. “Our meticulous follow-up has made us able to keep shipbuilding going. We have now two trained Covid-19 teams, which in the future can be assembled again to handle similar situations. Ordering a new vessel takes time, it is not done in days. However, we are already seeing the effect of vaccination programmes, as positivity in the industry has returned and expedition cruise itineraries for the winter season are currently getting fully booked.”


Change in design


If a sudden recalibration of working practices was crisis management, one long-term effect of the


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Previous page: The National Geographic Endurance, which Ulstein Verft successfully completed in 2020.


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