Damen Shiprepair Brest completed an 11-day program of scheduled maintenance and refurbishment on the Norwegian Breakaway in April and May as the 146,000-ton ship drydocked.

Laurent Salou, Project Manager at Damen Shiprepair Brest, commented: “I truly believe that all the personnel at Damen Shiprepair Brest really appreciated the opportunity to work on Norwegian Breakaway as the collaboration with the ship’s staff was more than excellent during the entire dry-docking period. I’m personally really proud of the work which has been achieved by my colleagues, and honoured to have worked on such a notable project.

“The client chose us for this project not only because we are capable of handling a ship of this size, but also because we are close to the major cruise terminal at Southampton, which was its last port of call. They were also very satisfied with the works that we performed on the Norwegian Epic in 2015 and I am pleased to be able to report that the client was very happy with performance of the DSBr workers and the yard on this project as well.”

The primary objective of the visit was mechanical workson the ship’s two ABB azipods, Damen said.

The shipyard’s team worked alongside ABB service engineers on both azipods to repair the shaft bearings and replace the slewing seals. This work required the removal of both propellers and took place in very close coordination with the other teams working on the vessel to ensure that no dust and other contaminants entered the complex systems within the azipods.

At the same time, technicians worked with personnel from Brunvoll on the ship’s bowthrusters, as well as dismantling, maintaining and then refitting the two Fincantieri stabilizers. The hull was also repainted.

While the Norwegian Breakaway was in Damen’s 420-meter drydock, large quantities of the carpets inside the cruise ship were removed and replaced by a specialist contractor as part of a rolling program. The yard managed the 24/7 logistical flow, ensuring that old carpets were removed on time and the new rolls available for fitting. 

The Norwegian Breakaway left Damen Shiprepair Brest on May 8 at 12:00 p.m. local time, six hours ahead of schedule.