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to work the equipment with the high blocking system.” Joe Mayhall explains the practice even further, “Not having to cut holes in the dry dock fl oor to remove Z-drives is time and money saved. Just being able to maneuver under the vessel without being bent over, worse yet, on your knees is an advantage to the opera- tor and to the shipyard. Effi - ciencies increase and less man- hours are needed to perform the work, rigging time is mini- mized, saving money and time on the clock. The practice gives us the ability to work the equipment in place and multi-task on the vessel, as we do.” In April, SSR put a vessel on last week on eight foot blocks that provided the ability to work keel coolers, a drop down thruster forward and replace seals on the stern while completing minor steel work. Off and on, the work took just four days. Addition- ally, there were two vessels on the dry dock simultaneously. Upon undocking; one vessel went back to the GoM oil- fi eld, and the other went to an overseas contract. Involving both 135 foot LOA tug and another multi-service (370 foot LOA) vessel, the double docking allowed two separate owners to have their vessels re- paired and back to work with minimal downtime. Mayhall adds, “The slight increased price of the blocking effort pays dividends in way of less time in the shipyard and a better overall experience with the repair evolution.” Specialized Service for Offshore Clients SSR’s turnkey Deep Draft Rig Solutions also afford One-Stop-Shop Accountability, thruster work done by an SHIP REPAIR “We have taken advantage of Signal’s high blocking capabilities three times in the past twelve months. On the dredge Columbia it was extremely helpful with hopper door repairs to have height for removals. On our dump scow CK7 being blocked at 7’ made it so much more effi cient working on the seals on the split hopper.” – Steven Lee, Equipment Manager, The Dutra Group May 2014 56 MN MN May14 Layout 50-65.indd 56 4/21/2014 10:26:31 AM
