With two Atlantic shipyards, Astican and Astander offer intriguing geographic possibilities for cruise ship repair. Located in Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Astican Shipyards has seven docking lanes, according to the 2020 Drydocking and Refurbishment Report by Cruise Industry News.
The yard also has 700 meters of pier with drafts between 8 and 12 meters. The area is serviced by two 60 meter high rotating gantry cranes of up to 50 tons. There is also a 175-meter-long, 30-meter-wide syncrolift available. It has a 10,000 ton lifting capacity, for vessels up to 36,000 DWT.
“At Astican, the flexibility of the lifting platform drydocking system allows almost permanent availability and assures the necessary pre-arrangement program that for a cruise operator is essential,” said Luisa Ramos, sales manager at Astican. She touted fair weather conditions in Las Palmas as adding to year-round capabilities.
In Santander, along the Bay of Biscay in northern Spain, Astander shipyard is about an hour drive from the Bilbao international airport.
“From regular drydock repairs to major projects, including upgradings, enlargement of accommodation areas, installation of new cabins, scrubber retrofits, etc., can be carried out in both facilities with utmost quality, timing and safety standards,” Ramos said.
Recent repair work at the yards includes the Serenissima, Sea Cloud, Sea Cloud II, Sea Spirit, and other ships from Noble Caledonia, Ramos said.
The Island Sky underwent extensive work that included: “The prefabrication and installation of a new aluminium accommodation module with two cabins; steel repairs inside double bottom tanks, fresh water tanks and pipe tunnels; prefabrication and installation of a new bulkhead at the aft. Installation of two new reverse osmosis plants and other important drydock work,” she said.
The Hebridean Sky also underwent extensive repairs, she added.
Regular visitors include the Marella Dream from Marella Cruises and the Majesty, now with Mano Maritime.
“One good example of the short repair period and critical jobs carried out was the Ocean Endeavor,” she said. The 1981-built ship will operate in Antarctic waters under the Peregrine Adventures flag in October 2020
