Queen Elizabeth cruise ship, the most recent addition to the Cunard fleet, has left Damen Shiprepair Brest (DSBr) in France, following a 12-day repair and refit programme. Under the programme, two scrubbers were installed on the ship.
California-based Cunard, a subsidiary of Carnival Corp., has installed scrubbers on its entire small fleet of three ships -the Queen Mary 2, the Queen Victoria, and the Queen Elizabeth- as part of Carnival Corporation’s initiative to install scrubber technology.
According to Damen, the 12-day programme was highly intensive with a series of major systems being overhauled or installed. On arrival, the ship was placed in Damen Shiprepair Brest’s drydock number 3, one of the largest in Europe at 420 metres, and the relevant manufacturers began immediately on maintenance to her stabilisers, ABB Azipods, bow thrusters and water intakes.
Along with installment of twin exhaust gas cleaning systems (EGCS), the work involved the removal of two cabins to accommodate the additional equipment. Inside the vessel, the refurbishment included a series of cabins and corridors, along with the ship’s spa and part of the retail provision. Ashore, DSBr performed routine maintenance to Queen Elizabeth’s lifeboats, liferafts and tenders, and the yard also cleaned and repainted the hull and topsides of the ship.
In total, around 250 people were at work on the project. Large quantities of materials flowed on board the vessel while substantial amounts of waste came ashore for disposal as the cabins were refurbished.
Queen Elizabeth returned at her home port of Southampton on the morning of 27th November.
