Feature 2 | MEDITERRANEAN
Fincantieri secures Grimaldi ro-pax lengthening contract
Fincantieri’s ship repair and conversion division is to increase the capacity of two cruise ferries at its yard in Palermo early next year in a project that also has innovative environmental protection features
and upgrade projects involving passenger ships. Several of these projects, including the MSC Cruises quartet, MSC Armonia, Lirica, Sinfonia and Opera, have required the significant lengthening of the vessels, with the insertion of pre-fabricated mid-body sections. The company continued to capitalise
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on its experience in this field when, earlier this year, the Italian owner Grimaldi signed a contract with Fincantieri to carry out the lengthening and extensive refurbishment of its ferries, Cruise Roma and Cruise Barcelona, which were built by the Italian yard in 2007 and 2008 respectively. Te lengthening of these two ro-pax ships will include additional cabins, new public spaces and restaurants, as well as the creation of an equipment room for the installation of electric batteries. At present, prior to lengthening, the 54,000gt vessels are 225m long, with capacity for 3,000 passengers, and have a 2,400m2
car
deck and 3,000 lane metres of space for heavy vehicles. Following the lengthening, the vessels will be rated at 63,000gt and will be 254m long, with space for 3,500 passengers, and will feature a 3,400m2
lane metres. Working closely with the classification
society, RINA, Fincantieri has prepared a feasibility study to address the complexities of this project. All the required approvals have now been obtained and the company’s ship repair and conversion division will start work on Cruise Roma at the Palermo yard in January 2019, with work expected to take around 12 weeks to complete. Te lengthening of Cruise Barcelona will take place shortly aſterwards at the same shipyard. Fincantieri’s vice president, ship repair and
conversion, Andrew Toso, says: “Te main aim of the project is to increase passenger and vehicle carrying capacity. However, in this
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n recent years the Italian shipyard operator, Fincantieri, has undertaken a number of highly complex conversion
Fincantieri has a track record of lengthening passenger ships. Silversea’s Silver Spirit was the most recent project of this type for the company
car deck and 3,600
case the ferry operator has also implemented a very environmentally friendly approach and will dedicate some of the space created by the new mid-body section to install a bank of mega-lithium batteries. Tis will allow the vessels to have zero emissions in port, as all of the electrical needs will be met by the batteries, which will then be recharged while the ships are at sea.” It is believed that this is the first time that batteries have been installed onboard a ferry during lengthening, making this project particularly notable. Te programme of work entrusted to Fincantieri will also include the installation of a scrubber system for exhaust gas cleaning. The lengthening part of the project
will involve the construction of two new 28m long mid-body sections which will be inserted into the ferries, creating 20 additional cabins on each ferry. Te new mid-body section will also provide more deck space, so that the existing sun deck will be increased in size by about 600m2 Two new seating areas will be added,
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providing an increase of 500 seats, and a new family-orientated self-service restaurant will be created with seating for about 270, which will also comprise a space for children to play. Fincantieri will additionally create a movable partition in the existing restaurants to provide Grimaldi with the option of using part of the space for a specialty restaurant. In order to reduce the time that the
vessels have to remain out of service at the shipyard, the new mid-body section, which contains about 1,700tonnes of steel and another 600tonnes of outfitting materials, is currently being prefabricated and assembled prior to the arrival of the first vessel at the Palermo facility. Toso explains: “Te idea is to pre-outfit the new section as much as possible. Te aſt section – the heaviest part of the vessel – will remain stationary on traditional dock blocks, while the forward section will be laid on special movable blocks, called skid shoes. Tese skid shoes can be moved forward using hydraulic
Shiprepair & Maintenance 4th Quarter 2018
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