The Grand Bahama Shipyard has cemented its relations with one of its largest customers, having successfully completed work required on one of the customer's largest luxury cruise vessels in a timely and efficient manner.
Carnival Princess Cruises' Star Princess left Grand Bahama for Germany for further refurbishment just four days following its arrival at the Grand Bahama Shipyard for initial repairs.
GB Shipyard Managing Director David Dalgleish said that although not very technical, the repairs were carried out in a timely fashion.
"It was not a very technical job for us, but it solidified our relationship with that client," reiterated the managing director.
The Star Princess suffered extensive damaged to more than 100 cabins as a result of a fire at sea in March. According to reports, the fire broke out around 3:10 a.m. as the four-year-old luxury liner, carrying 2,690 passengers and 1,123 crew, sailed from Grand Cayman Island to Montego Bay, Jamaica.
The 950-foot cruise liner arrived at the GB Shipyard on Monday, March 27.
"We were required to prepare the Star Princess for its transatlantic trip to Germany, where it is scheduled to be completely refurbished," explained Mr. Dalgleish.
He added that the owner ﾗ Princess Cruises, owned by Carnival Corp. of Miami ﾗ had replacement equipment from another ship that was being built in Italy.
"The owners immediately diverted that equipment from the existing ship that was being built straight to the Star Princess in Germany, which cut down the obvious length of time it would take to have the equipment sent to Grand Bahama."
Mr. Dalgleish noted that the Star Princess is being refitted in the Baltics, and therefore it was decided that the Shipyard would just secure the ship and prepare it for the transatlantic voyage, by doing superficial work, including covering the balcony doors that were broken and making sure the ship was sea-worthy.
"So our entire work lasted for about four days," he confirmed.
Detailing some of the repairs carried out on board the Star Princess, Mr. Dalgleish explained that on the side of the ship many of the balconies had been twisted and wrecked by the fire, so "we removed all of those so that there was no danger of them falling or causing any problems."
Crews at the Shipyard also removed all the balcony door frames, replacing them with steel to ensure that the side of the ship was stable.
"We removed all the damaged furniture and loose fittings from the cabins that were affected by the fire, smoke and water damage," added Mr. Dalgleish. "And then we cleaned everything up to make it safe for the transit. Obviously we were sorry that that situation had occurred, but we were very pleased to extend our help and come out in a very, very short space of time to get the ship back in service."
Mr. Dalgleish noted that this project was very important to the Shipyard, "because it is a customer that we've had here before and the customer was extremely happy with the work and activity that we accomplished in such a short time."
So, he added, "we believe that this strengthened the relationship with our customer for future business." As a matter of fact, revealed Mr. Dalgleish, another Carnival cruise liner is scheduled to be serviced at the Shipyard early next year.
The GB Shipyard is heralded as being among the best, skilful and efficient ship repair facilities in the region.
By BARBARA WALKIN, Senior FN Reporter
