Underwater intervention services

Rolls-Royce provides complete project management for underwater intervention activities – including project planning, logistics, service engineers, divers, tools and spare units, as well as service centre overhaul (and in some cases storage) of removed units.
 
Underwater intervention can be arranged in line with a vessel’s itinerary, with the service team and equipment meeting the vessel at the agreed location. This minimises operational disruption and reduces turnaround times.
Our underwater intervention portfolio includes:

• Azimuth thruster exchange 
• Swing up thruster exchange 
• Tunnel thruster exchange
• Retractable thruster exchange 

What next...

• Download brochure - Underwater intervention services  (PDF 479 Kb)
• Contact your nearest Rolls-Royce service centre for more information

Tunnel thruster exchange

Situation

A large cruise liner was in very high demand during the summer season in the Mediterranean. One of the tunnel thrusters on the vessel was due for overhaul.

The customer needed to keep the vessel in service throughout the season with minimal downtime planned for maintenance and a very short period in dry dock. The customer contacted Rolls-Royce to explain their requirements and find out which solutions could be offered.

Solution

Rolls-Royce offered to perform an underwater exchange of the tunnel thruster. The existing tunnel thruster was removed in the water using a sled and immediately exchanged with a fully assembled and factory-tested exchange unit.

Exchange thruster units are overhauled at fixed rates, and a pool of stock is readily available.

Result

The underwater exchange was completed in 12 hours by the quayside, whereas in dry dock this job may have taken up to one week depending on availability. With the time saved, the customer was able to operate the cruise liner for one additional cruise that year.

What next...

• Download brochure - Underwater intervention services  (PDF 479 Kb)
• Learn more about our thruster exchange pool 
• Contact your nearest Rolls-Royce service centre for more information

Azimuth thruster exchange

Situation

A drillship was on a long term charter off the coast of Brazil. The vessel was earning high day rates so the customer wanted to keep downtime to an absolute minimum.

Six azimuth thrusters were installed on the drillship and these were due for overhaul during the charter period. Finding a suitable available dry dock and the time needed to sail to it would be too costly as this would add to the number of off-hire days.

In addition, Rolls-Royce has designed certain types of thrusters with underwater exchange in mind. The customer did not want the vessel to be off-hire for longer than seven days, so Rolls-Royce worked with the customer to plan a complete exchange activity.

Solution

The vessel remained in its operating location and Rolls-Royce arranged the removal of the thrusters and the installation of customer-owned spare units. The removed thrusters were transported to the nearest Rolls-Royce service centre for overhaul.

Result

Rolls-Royce was able to exchange all six thrusters on the drillship during one week off-hire time using two teams of divers and Rolls-Royce service engineers working together.

The removed thrusters were overhauled and stored at the Rolls-Royce service centre on the customer’s behalf, and used for the next series of exchanges on another of the customer’s drillships.

What next...

• Download brochure - Underwater intervention services  (PDF 479 Kb)
• Learn more about our thruster exchange pool 
• Contact your nearest Rolls-Royce service centre for more information