Hydrex Underwater technology

Drydocking a ship is a complex, expensive, time-consuming and stressful activity. It is regarded by most ship owners, operators, officers and crew as a necessary evil. Time spent in drydock is time spent out of service. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find drydock time available when and where one would like it. This is... Read more

In February Hydrex diver/technician teams carried out underwater stern tube seal repairs on a 139-meter container vessel in Port Everglades, Florida, close to the company’s office in Clearwater. The vessel was suffering from an oil leak, making a fast repair necessary. Using one of the company’s next generation flexible mobdocks the team was able to... Read more

A Hydrex diver/technician team mobilized to Tacoma, Washington, U.S.A. last month to remove the bow thruster of a 294-meter container vessel. The unit needed to be overhauled. Hydrex performed the operation underwater in a very short time frame. This made it possible for the owner to keep his vessel out of drydock. Together with all... Read more

In April, a diver/technician team performed successful propeller blade straightening operations on two vessels at anchorage in Kalundborg, Denmark. First the bent blades of a 225–meter bulk carrier were restored. The team then straightened the damaged blades of 158-meter reefer in the same location. By taking advantage of the in-house developed cold straightening technique, damaged... Read more

Last month the rudders of three ships were coated with Ecospeed at shipyards in China. A 217-meter heavy lift vessel was treated in Guangzhou, while a 200-meter roro ship and a 137-meter LPG-tanker had their respective rudders coated in Zhousan and Nantong. The three vessels are owned by different owners, but they experienced the same... Read more

Last month, Hydrex teams carried out underwater propeller operations in Bremen and Rostock (Germany) and Algeciras (Spain). In Algeciras a 200-meter vehicle carrier had its five propeller blades cropped. In Germany three of the five blades of a 183-meter tanker were grinded, re-profiled and polished while a fourth one was straightened. Both repairs were carried... Read more

Recently several rudders were coated with Ecospeed in China and Latvia. In China the rudder of a 294-meter container vessel was treated in Shangai and a 125-meter LPG tanker had its rudder coated in Guangzhou. Around the same time Ecospeed was applied on both rudders of a 186-meter roro vessel in Riga, Latvia. The owners... Read more

At the beginning of March a Hydrex team of diver/technicians sailed out with one of the company’s dive support workboats to a 200-meter vehicle carrier berthed in the port of Antwerp. They performed an underwater inspection and repair of the vessel’s malfunctioning rudder. The latest development allows Hydrex to perform permanent repairs on any type... Read more

Hydrex teams carried out underwater steel repairs on vessels in France and Portugal. In France Hydrex carried out a pipe repair on a 210-meter bulk carrier berthed in Dunkirk and reinforced the weld seams of a leaking doubler plate on a 183-meter tanker in Marseille. In Setubal, Portugal, two repairs were carried out on bulk... Read more

A Hydrex diver/technician team mobilized to Rotterdam last month to remove the bow thruster of a 300-meter container vessel. The unit needed to be overhauled. Hydrex performed the operation underwater using the company’s own workboats based at the Antwerp depot. This made it possible for the owner to keep his vessel out of drydock. The... Read more

Last month a Hydrex diver/technician team carried out underwater stern tube seal repairs on a 190-meter bulker vessel in Zeebrugge, not far from headquarters in Antwerp. The repair was performed in icy weather conditions. The vessel was suffering from an oil leak, making a fast repair necessary. Using one of the company’s flexible mobdocks the... Read more

There is currently no hull coating available – biocidal, non-stick or hard – which will not foul. Any level of fouling, including biofilm or slime, carries with it a considerable fuel penalty. With current fuel prices, this penalty is too expensive to ignore. The only way to remove this fouling is to clean it off.... Read more

Last month Hydrex diver/technician teams performed successful propeller repairs on vessels berthed in Antwerp (Belgium) and Rostock (Germany) and on a ship at anchorage in Fujairah (U.A.E). By taking advantage of the in-house developed cold straightening technique, damaged blades can be straightened underwater. This allows a ship to return to commercial operations without the need... Read more

If a rudder is not given the proper protection against cavitation and the resulting erosion and corrosion damage, the financial consequences can be substantial for the owner. Cavitation is a fluid dynamics phenomenon where tiny bubbles are created in the water and then collapse forcefully on the metal surfaces of the ship. This is caused... Read more

When it comes to protecting the hulls of ice-going vessels, the glassflake reinforced surface treated composite (STC) Ecospeed® has proven to be remarkably durable, typically outperforming many specialized ice class paints. Download .PDF

At the end of 2012 the rudders of two vehicle carriers were coated with Ecospeed. The rudder of a 200-meter vessel was treated in Bahrain while a 229-meter ship had its rudder coated in Zhousan, China. The owners decided to use Ecospeed after cavitation damage had appeared on the rudders of their vessels. Ecospeed will... Read more

Near the end of 2012, an 86-meter research vessel needed the stainless steel belt in one of its thruster tunnels replaced. A Hydrex diver/technician team therefore flew to Pointe- Noire, Congo to perform the repairs. The stainless steel belt is installed around the perimeter of a thruster tunnel at the location of the thruster blades.... Read more

When damage to propellers occurs due to impact with ice and other debris, Hydrex will help you, even if the damage is quite extensive. In this article you can read about propeller operations carried out underwater by Hydrex diver/technicians in Antwerp, Ventspils and Kiel. Some of these repairs were carried out in extreme winter circumstances.... Read more

At the end of November 2012, Hydrex diver/technician teams carried out two underwater stern tube seal repairs. One on a 143-meter general cargo ship in Galveston, Texas, U.S.A., and one on a 292-meter container vessel in Panama. Both vessels were experiencing oil leaks and a fast repair was required by the classification societies. Using the... Read more

Underwater repair allows vessel to continue its schedule A 247-meter tanker was not given permission to enter any port when the fore as well as the aft stern tube seals were leaking, the vessel s. Unloading the vessel at sea and going to drydock seemed the only option for the vessel, until Hydrex sent a... Read more

Recently Hydrex teams carried out underwater propeller operations in Antwerp (Belgium) and Algeciras (Spain). In Algeciras a 183-meter chemical tanker had four of its five propeller blades cropped. In Antwerp the bent blade of a 197-meter dry cargo vessel was straightened. Both repairs were carried out on-site and underwater. Underwater cropping of damaged propeller blades... Read more

Last week two dive support workboats arrived at the Hydrex headquarters in Antwerp. Both vessels can be used for a wide range of operations in Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and France. The catamarans are fully equipped as dive support stations with hydraulic cranes, hydraulic winches, nautical and communication equipment and a dive control... Read more

Last month several rudders were coated with Ecospeed in China. The rudder of a 294-meter container vessel was treated in Shangai. Around the same time a 125-meter LPG tanker had its rudder coated in Dalian. The owners decided to use Ecospeed after cavitation damage had appeared on the rudders of their vessels. Ecospeed will prevent... Read more

an alternative, practical and fully workable approach by David Phillips, Editor, Journal of Ship Hull Performance One hears and reads a great deal these days about aquatic invasive species (AIS), also known as non-indigenous marine species (NIMS), non-indigenous species (NIS), aquatic nuisance species, alien species and by a number of other names. NIS is perhaps... Read more

In recent months Hydrex has carried out bow thruster blade replacements on several occasions in Rotterdam. Three 366-meter container ships belonging to one owner were given the same speedy treatment during unloading. More ships are scheduled for the same operation in the upcoming months. The owner of the ships had the luxury of being able... Read more

In April 2010 parts of the flat bottom and Kort nozzle of a 96-meter trailing suction hopper dredger were coated with Ecospeed in Klaipeda, Lithuania, while the rest of the vessel was treated with the same coating system that had been used during previous dockings. When the vessel came into drydock in August 2012 at... Read more

A 190-meter bulker suffered severe collision damage in Lagos, Nigeria. A large hole in the hull plating prevented the ship from sailing at full speed. The classification society also demanded that the vessel go to drydock immediately unless an on-site solution was found. Hydrex therefore sent a diver/technician team to the vessel’s location to carry... Download .PDF

Recently Hydrex teams carried out a wide range of underwater propeller operations on tankers around the world. Among them a spinner cone (Propeller Boss Cap Fin –PBCF) replacement on a 110-meter vessel in Singapore, a propeller blade straightening on a 248-meter ship in Algeciras, Spain, and a blade cropping on a 183-meter vessel in Flushing,... Read more

Last month Hydrex diver/technician teams carried out underwater stern tube seal repairs on a 242-meter container vessel close to the company’s headquarters in Antwerp. The vessel was suffering from an oil leak, making a fast repair necessary. Using one of the company’s flexible mobdocks the team was able to carry out the entire operation on-site... Read more

The importance of choosing the right hull coating system and maintenance regimen for vessels in the offshore oil and gas industry By Steven Ferry While the shipping industry as a whole is experiencing a slump in terms of newbuilds, one maritime sector is bucking that trend: the offshore exploration and drilling industry. The world’s demand... Read more

The following case studies give an account of some of the more important recent seal repairs performed by Hydrex. Underwater stern tube seal repair in Port Gentil allows vessel to continue its schedule When the fore as well as the aft stern tube seals of a 247-meter tanker were leaking, the vessel was not given... Read more

In the last few years Hydrex divers have carried out thruster operations on numerous occasions around the world. This article gives a summary of some of the more important ones. Underwater bow thruster removal and reinstallation in one take Antwerp In July, Hydrex performed the removal of a bow thruster that needed to be overhauled,... Read more

Last month the rudders of three types of vessels, belonging to different owners were coated with the Ecospeed glassflake surface treated composite (STC). The application was carried out on a container vessel, an LPG tanker and a car ferry at two different shipyards in Shanghai, China and at a yard in Ruwi, Oman. If a... Read more

Recently Hydrex teams of diver/technicians mobilized to a 164-meter roro vessel berthed in Antwerp, Belgium and a 235-meter bulker at anchor in Punta Del Este, Uruguay to perform underwater hull repairs. Despite the smaller scale of these operations they are nonetheless vital for shipowners if they want to avoid unscheduled drydock visits for their vessels.... Read more

Last August, the 31-meter tug boat Ocean Raymond Lemay was coated with Ecospeed on the  Isle-aux-Coudres in Quebec, Canada. The vessel is owned by Ocean Group Inc., who, among many other services, offers efficient and safe harbor towing services in the ports of Quebec, Montreal, Toronto and a number of smaller harbors. M/V Ocean Raymond... Read more

The 25th shipbuilding, machinery and marine technology (SMM) international trade fair in Hamburg in September 2012 was attended by more than 50,000 trade visitors from all parts of the world. The 2,100 exhibitors, including Hydrex, spread out over 90,000 square meters, were very satisfied with the fair. Even the weather was kind with dry and... Read more

To save time and money for the owner of a 334-meter container vessel, Hydrex removed the bow thruster of the ship and installed a new unit during the vessel’s scheduled stop in Rotterdam. By carrying out both parts of the operation underwater the ship could continue its commercial operation and did not have to go... Read more

In July, Hydrex performed the removal of a bow thruster that needed to be overhauled, and reinstalled a spare unit in one take. Both parts of the operation were carried out during a 200-meter container vessel’s stop in Antwerp. A diver/technician team carried out a preliminary inspection and took the necessary measurements prior to the... Read more

The 16th International Congress on Marine Corrosion and Fouling (ICMCF) was held between the 24th and the 28th of June this year at the Conference Center at Convention Place in downtown Seattle, Washington, USA. The ICMCF is a biennial congress organized on behalf of the Comité International Permanent pour la Recherche sur la Préservation des... Read more

In July, Hydrex diver/technician teams carried out underwater stern tube seal repairs on a 271-meter oil tanker in Fujairah, and on a 195-meter roro vessel in Panama. Because both vessels were experiencing oil leaks, a fast repair was required by the classification societies. Using the company’s flexible mobdocks, Hydrex teams were able to perform both... Read more

Over the last few months the rudders of three container vessels, a roro vessel and a cruise vessel from a number of different fleets, were coated with the Ecospeed glassflake surface treated composite (STC) at shipyards in China, Canada and Bahrain. The coating ensures lasting protection against cavitation damage for the rudders of these vessels... Read more

When Henk and Annet Brautigam bought the yacht Oceantide in 2006, they knew that the hull needed some work. They decided that rather than patch it up and have an even rougher bottom to their yacht, they would take it back to bare steel and start from scratch. The yard at Dordrecht where the work... Read more

Interscan Schiffahrt is a family owned shipping company based in Hamburg. Founded in 1973, Interscan controls a fleet of 23 container and multipurpose cargo ships ranging in size from 1,723 to 11,800 dwt. The larger container ships (6,288 dwt Karin, 8,201 dwt Paphos, Pandora, Pioneer, and 11,800 dwt Elena, Pauline, Colleen) are chartered worldwide. The... Read more

In May, Hydrex diver/technicians removed a dock gate in Cochin, India and replaced it with a new one. Both gates were 47.5 meters long, 4 meters wide and 11.4 meters high and weighed 500 tons. Download .PDF

Last month Hydrex diver/technician teams carried out underwater stern tube seal repairs on a 130-meter oil tanker in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and on a 261-meter container vessel in Singapore. Both vessels were suffering oil leaks, making a fast repair necessary. Using one of the company’s flexible mobdocks the team was able to carry out the... Read more

In May Hydrex diver/technicians replaced a blade on one of the two azipod propellers of a 294-meter cruise vessel during the ship’s stops in Bermuda. Last month a team straightened three of the four propeller blades of a 180-meter tanker while the vessel was stationed in Rotterdam. One of the five blades of the port... Read more

Last month the rudder and the ice belt of the harbor icebreaker tug Jääsalo were coated with Ecospeed in Naantali, Finland. The m/s Jääsalo is responsible for keeping the Veitsiluoto fairway open in the port of Kemi in Finland.   The Port of Kemi in the Bothnian Bay is an excellent import and export harbor... Read more

In a period of only ten days Hydrex diver/technician teams have flown all over the planet to perform a wide range of underwater operations on five different continents. The services offered ranged from routine inspections and maintenance work all the way through to highly technical major repairs. Among these jobs were two welding operations in... Read more

On 30 May 2012 two delegates from the Austrian Chamber of Commerce at the Austrian embassy in Brussels, Mr. Peter Fuchs and Mr. Henry Simon, visited Hydrex nv in Antwerp to present the company with the National Energy Globe Award for sustainability for 2012. Hydrex won the award for Belgium for its Ecospeed non-toxic hull... Read more

With all five blades of its propeller severely bent, a 290-meter container vessel needed a fast, on-site solution to restore the propeller’s balance and efficiency. Hydrex diver/technicians are trained to carry out repairs underwater in the shortest possible time frame and a team was therefore mobilized to the ship’s location in Diego Garcia in the... Read more

In May, Hydrex diver/technicians carried out a permanent insert repair on a 224-meter bulker at anchor in Busan, South Korea. The vessel was being sold and the repair needed to be carried out before the sale could be finalized. The tight working window available was however no problem for the team. Like all Hydrex divers... Read more

The Hydrex flexible mobdock technique was used to perform two underwater stern tube seal repairs.  Three seals were replaced in Algeciras on a 250-meter roro vessel that was leaking oil, while the aft stern tube seal assembly of a 210-meter container ship was partly repositioned in Le Havre to stop an oil blockage. Every Hydrex... Read more

Recently the underwater hull of m/v Sen. John J. Marchi, one of the ferries owned by Staten Island Ferries was coated with Ecospeed in Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.A. This is the second ferry owned by Staten Island Ferries that was given an Ecospeed treatment after m/v John Noble was coated in Bridgeport, Connecticut last year. Ecospeed... Read more

Over the last few months the rudders of four container vessels and a bulk carrier from a number of different fleets, were coated with the Ecospeed surface treated coating (STC) at shipyards in China and Turkey. The coating ensures lasting protection against cavitation damage for the rudders of these vessels and this for the remainder... Read more

Due to a malfunctioning bow thruster, a 334-meter container vessel had to use the services of a tug boat for port maneuvering, so its owners requested Hydrex to take care of the removal, transportation and reinstallation of the unit. The operation was performed in stages on several locations to allow the vessel to keep to... Read more

Over the last couple of months Hydrex teams of diver/technicians mobilized to vessels berthed in Zeebrugge (Belgium), Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and Douala (Cameroon) to perform insert repairs on a roro vessel and two tankers. These repairs were carried out according to the Hydrex class approved procedure for the welding of inserts in a vessel’s shell... Read more

Last month a Hydrex diver/technician team cropped all four blades of the bow thruster of a semi-submersible drill rig stationed in Invergordon, Scotland for maintenance. The blades had suffered multiple dents and cracks and needed to be modified to restore the propeller’s balance. The team first carried out a detailed underwater inspection of the propeller... Read more

To save time and money for the owners of a 270-meter container vessel that was leaking oil, a Hydrex diver/technician team replaced three stern tube seals, using one of the company’s flexible mobdocks. This enabled the team to carry out the entire operation on-site and underwater during the vessel’s stop in Le Havre. After the... Read more

Over the years Ecospeed’s many qualities have been confirmed on numerous occasions. Both by the certification and recognition given by independent organizations and by the excellent condition of the coating on vessels coming into drydock after sailing with Ecospeed on their underwater hulls and rudders for several years. In this article we will give you... Read more

Hydrex diver/technicians carried out three separate repairs on a 118-meter general cargo vessel while the ship was at anchorage off the coast of Port Gentil, Gabon. These on-site repairs allowed the customer to save precious time and money. Download .PDF

When all four propeller blades of a 100-meter general cargo vessel were severely bent, a repair was required by the classification society. Hydrex therefore performed a detailed video inspection, followed by a repair while the vessel was berthed in Ghent, Belgium. To make a full assessment of the damage, the diver/technician team first performed a... Read more

Last month Hydrex mobilized a diver/technician team to a 145-meter general cargo vessel in Las Palmas, Spain when oil was leaking from the stern tube seal assembly of the ship. The team used the Hydrex flexible mobock technique to create a dry working environment around the assembly and replaced three damaged stern tube seals on-site,... Read more

A lot has been written on the advantages of the Ecospeed underwater ship hull coating system. The coating offers many long term benefits to shipowners, ship managers and operators and this both from an economical as well as ecological point of view. The more practical and direct advantages of Ecospeed have been documented much less.... Read more

Recently the rudders of two ferries and a container vessel were given an Ecospeed coating at shipyards in Shanghai and Jingjiang (China), and Landskrona (Sweden). The decision to use Ecospeed was made by the shipowners after cavitation damage had appeared on the rudders of their vessels. Ecospeed will prevent similar damage from occurring again. The... Read more

In the last quarter of 2011 the US coast guard chose Ecospeed as the new coating for the underwater hull of their Coast Guard Cutter Penobscot Bay. The application was carried out in Baltimore, Maryland. By completely stripping off the old paint system to bare steel and replacing it with Ecospeed, the US coast guard... Read more

Flying all across the world Hydrex diver/technician teams have carried out numerous underwater insert and doubler plate repairs over the last couple of months. Besides the larger repairs discussed in our previous magazines (and found on our website) a lot of smaller underwater hull repairs were also carried out. Despite the relative size of these... Read more

Five years after the Ecospeed underwater hull coating had been applied on her rudder, the 195-meter container vessel Marie Delmas came into drydock in Dubai. Shortly afterward the rudders of two other ships owned by the same company, CMA Ships UK Ltd., were also coated with Ecospeed and this in China. The drydocking of Marie... Read more

A 190-meter bulker had suffered a bent propeller blade. Hydrex was therefore contacted, and rapidly mobilized a diver/technician team to Rotterdam to perform a detailed underwater inspection and repair of the damage in early January. Later that month a team carried out a similar operation in the same port on a 230-meter vessel. The team... Read more

When a 204-meter cruise vessel suffered an oil leak in its stern tube seal assembly, Hydrex was asked to carry out a permanent seal replacement. The repair was carried out with the Hydrex flexible mobdock technique and performed in stages to allow the ship to keep the tight schedule of the cruise it was on.... Read more

At the end of 2011 Hydrex mobilized a diver/technician team to Rio De Janeiro to carry out a detailed inspection and necessary repair to the damaged port-side propeller blades of a 73-meter supply vessel. A wooden beam had fouled the propeller and had damaged three of the four blades. The affected areas of the blades... Read more

When the bow thruster unit of a 348-meter container vessel needed to be overhauled, Hydrex sent a diver/technician team to the ship to remove the unit on-site and reinstall it again two months later after it had been overhauled. The operation was performed in stages at several locations to allow the vessel to keep to... Read more

Over the last few months the rudders of several container and general cargo vessels from a number of different fleets, were coated with the Ecospeed  glassflake vinylester surface treated coating (STC) at shipyards in China, Poland and Belgium. The coating ensures lasting protection against cavitation damage for the rudders of these vessels for the remainder... Read more

Last month Ecospeed was applied on the two floaters of the semi-submersible mobile spacecraft launch platform Odyssey in Malaysia. The vessel was converted from a mobile drilling rig in 1997 and is used for equatorial Pacific Ocean satellite launches. She is stationed in the Port of Long Beach, California. In total 8500 m² was coated... Read more

There is currently no hull coating available which will not foul. The only way to remove this fouling is by cleaning it off. Like it or not, ship hull cleaning is an essential part of operating a vessel or a fleet efficiently and economically. Any level of fouling, including biofilm or slime, carries with it... Read more

 A world’s first in underwater repair: the insertion of a complete, prefabricated replacement hull section in a badly damaged ship at anchor. On Friday 22nd July, 2011 the Tsavliris Salvage Group urgently dispatched salvage tug Stevns Battler in response to a call for assistance from bulk carrier Navios Sagittarius (GRT: 38,849, DWT: 75,756), laden with... Download .PDF

When the shell plating of a 300-meter bulker was indented over a length of 150 meters after a grounding in the Suez Canal, a large crack 1.5 meters long appeared, making it impossible for the vessel to sail any further. To close off the crack and allow the vessel to continue its route, Hydrex sent... Read more

A Norwegian based shipping company chose Ecospeed to give lasting protection to their two newbuild general cargo vessels. The first vessel, m/v Golfstraum, was delivered in November. Her sister vessel m/v Rystraum is planned for a 2012 delivery. Both vessels are of the highest ice class and will be trading in North Europe and the... Read more

The underwater hull coating Ecospeed offers a TBT-free, copper free, biocide-free and silicone oil free solution for the protection of the underwater hull. The Ecospeed hull protection and performance system is today’s Best Available Technology for reduction of fuel consumption, GHG and other emissions through hull hydrodynamics and fouling control. In 2008, stringent tests were... Read more

Founded in 1893 Ernst Russ is a Hamburg based, family owned shipping company. For close to 120 years, Ernst Russ has been offering customers the highest standards in ship management. The ER Fleet Manual, introduced by Ernst Russ long before international standards were developed, is continuously updated and exceeds all standard requirements and regulations. Download .PDF

Recently a Hydrex diver/technician team mobilized to Hong Kong to reinstall a bow thruster on a 300-meter container ship after the unit had been overhauled. After all the preparations had been made, the team lowered the bow thruster unit into the water, positioned it in the thruster tunnel and secured it. Because the vessel was... Read more

When several of the boss head bolts of the main propeller of a ro/ro vessel were found to be missing, the manufacturer asked Hydrex to engineer a solution that would allow the replacement of these bolts on the vessel and similar vessels without having to go to drydock. In close communication with the manufacturer, the... Read more

One year after the Ecospeed underwater hull coating had been applied on her rudder, the 197-meter bulk carrier Gypsum Integrity came into drydock in Setúbal, Portugal while Ecospeed was applied on the rudder of her sister vessel, Gypsum Centennial at the same location. This allowed the owners to see the excellent condition of Ecospeed on... Read more

Recently the underwater hull of m/v John Noble, one of the ferries owned by Staten Island Ferries was coated with Ecospeed in Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.A. Under normal operation, ferries have to drydock once a year to comply with classification regulations. During the busy tourist season these ferries need to be sailing to make money so... Read more

When British Antarctic Survey’s RRS (Royal Research Ship) Ernest Shackleton was drydocked recently in Denmark, the superintendent, engineers and paint specialists there to check the condition of the hull paint were amazed. After two seasons of battering its way through ice up to 2.5 meters thick with a high content of gravel and volcanic lava... Download .PDF

During a conference held at the European Parliament in Brussels, Hydrex was presented an award for the ECOTEC-STC project which was named as one of the best LIFE projects completed in 2010. To select the best LIFE-Environment projects a lengthy identification and evaluation process was followed, based on a set of best practice criteria. These... Read more

Hydrex on-site hull repair services include the renewal of both small and large areas of damaged hull plating. These repairs can be carried out above or below water, according to the circumstances, with tailor-made mobdocks. Normal commercial activities can therefore continue without disruption. These operations follow the Hydrex procedure for welding cracks in the vessel's... Read more

Over the last months Hydrex diver/technicians have carried out more than 25 propeller repairs around the world. Our divers were active in the Netherlands, Greece, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Panama, Singapore, the U.S.A. and many other countries. All operations were performed to restore the propellers’ balance. They were brought back to as close to their optimum... Read more

Last month the 80-meter, 1800 ton deadweight, ice strengthened ship RSS Ernest Shackleton came into drydock in Frederikshavn in Denmark after sailing with Ecospeed on its underwater hull since October 2009. The vessel is primarily used as a logistics vessel to resupply the stations of its owners, the British Antarctic Survey. During its voyages to... Read more

 A team of Hydrex diver/technicians performed inspection work on some sixty legs of an oil terminal located in Yanbu, just north of Al-Mu’ajiz in Saudi Arabia. The facility had been closed since the start of the first Gulf War and is planned to be put back into operation twenty years later after a full refit.... Read more

Four months after Hydrex diver/technicians removed the bow thruster of a 280-meter container vessel in Singapore, a Hydrex team once again mobilized to this location to reinstall the overhauled unit underwater with the use of the Hydrex flexible mobdock. The superintendent of the ship was very satisfied with the first part of the operation. He... Read more

Hydrex diver/technician team mobilized to an offshore crane barge stationed at its service base in Gabon to replace one of the vessel’s swing-up azimuth thrusters with the spare. The operation had to be carried out in a very short timeframe because the crane barge was scheduled to leave for an operation in Nigeria. All repairs... Read more

Recently Hydrex Spain carried out a permanent insert repair on a 225-meter cargo vessel at anchorage in Algeciras.  The vessel had suffered a stress-related crack on the port side next to the bilge keel and water was coming into the ballast tank. The classification society therefore required that a repair be carried out before the... Read more

Two months after a Canadian shipowner applied Ecospeed for the first time to one of his ro/ro vessels, he decided to send a second ro/ro ship into drydock in Las Palmas to have the old paint system on the  underwater hull completely stripped off to bare steel to be replaced with Ecospeed. Why the change?... Read more

Recently the underwater hull of the second of the three 98-meter ferries crossing Delaware Bay from Cape May to Lewes was coated with Ecospeed in Staten Island, New York. MV Twin Capes is owned by the Delaware River and Bay Authority (DRBA) and was one of the original three vessels of the company’s 1970s fleet.... Read more

Recently the rudders of four container vessels, owned by three different owners, were coated with Ecospeed at shipyards in China, Singapore and Qatar. The rudders of these vessels are given lasting protection by Ecospeed against cavitation for the remainder of their sailing life. The decision to use Ecospeed was made by the shipowners after cavitation... Read more

To save time and money for the owners of a 270-meter container vessel that was leaking oil, a Hydrex diver/technician team replaced four stern tube seals, using one of Hydrex’s flexible mobdocks. This enabled the team to carry out the entire operation underwater during the vessel’s stop in Algeciras. The diver/technicians mobilized from the Hydrex... Read more