It was the cruise industry equivalent of routine surgery. The ‘patient’ was Silversea’s ship, Silver Spirit, the ‘hospital’ was the Fincantieri shipyard in Palermo, Sicily, and the ‘surgeons’ were a team of engineers employed by the Italian master ship builder.
Last weekend a 36,009-ton luxury cruise ship, Silver Spirit, was cut in half and a 49ft midsection was inserted, which extended her length to 691ft, reports the Telegraph.
The decision to lengthen was inspired by the line’s newest vessel, Silver Muse, which was built by Fincantieri and delivered last year. The project cost for Silversea expansion was around $70 million and it increased her capacity by roughly 12 per cent , which in passenger-capacity terms scales from 540 to 608.
Silversea stretch – A step-by-step guide
February 22
Silver Spirit’s final passengers disembark in Dubai. The crew remain and 200 contractors come on board to strip out all her fixtures and furnishings and mark some 1,600 electric cables and 450 major pipes (on each half of the ship), which will need to be reconnected after she is cut in two. The bulk of the construction waste is offloaded in Crete. Sofas, chairs, curtains and computers and more are donated to local hospitals, nursing homes and schools.
March 3
Ship arrives at Fincantieri’s Palermo shipyard. Once in dry dock, the section of the hull where the cut will be made is cleaned and the power is turned off.
March 5
A team of 50 workers with blow torches start cutting the hull – where the ship and the decks below are cut in a pre-determined pattern.
March 6
Final debris and furniture is removed from the ship – she is now completely hollow.
March 10
There’s a loud bang as the final part of the structure is cut, relieving tension and energy in the steel. The back of the ship is fixed on blocks and the forward section rests on sliding hydraulic jacks. These roll forward to inch the bow slowly away from the stern. The jacks can be adjusted to take more or less of the load.
March 11
The mid-section, manoeuvred on wheels, is inserted in about 20 minutes.
March 24
Welding due to be finished, interior work continues and sea trials begin in April.
May 1
The new, improved Silver Spirit will leave Fincantieri.
May 6
First guests board in Civitavecchia, Rome, for a seven-day cruise to Barcelona.
For those of us watching quayside, it was thrilling to see the two halves slowly inch apart, revealing the ghostly shell of a ship about to be reborn.
The following afternoon we returned to see the new mid-section roll into place with faultless precision. More than 50,000 design hours led up to this moment and there was no dress rehearsal, just a one-off feat of engineering wizardry. Over 500 workers will spend approximately 450,000 man hours completing the lengthening and refurbishment project.
It’s not just about passenger capacity, however. In May, Silver Spirit will start sailing again, good as new, with 35 new suites, a larger pool deck and a new and expanded spa and fitness area. Two additional restaurants will take the total to eight.
While stretching a cruise ship is not cheap, it is considerably less expensive than building a brand new one from scratch, which can cost anywhere from several hundred million dollars to over $1 billion.
At a glance | A brief history of stretching ships
1871 – Allan Line was the first company to cut a ship in half in order to ‘stretch’ it. The cargo and passenger shipping service dissected their ships to incorporate new compound steam engines.
1978 – The first modern cruiseliner to be cut and lengthened was the Royal Caribbean’s Song of Norway – extending it by 85 feet.
2018 – Silversea’s Silver Spirit becomes the 29th cruise ship that shipbuilding company Fincantieri has cut in half and lengthened.
Andrea Zito, Silversea’s senior vice president, technical operations told Telegraph Travel that although this kind of surgery on ships is becoming quite routine, it is still a complicated act of engineering.
“It’s not like cutting a piece of bread,” he said. “The structure is very delicate and there is lots of residual tension so you have to be very careful with the cutting sequence.”
The mid-section has been under construction since September last year. Welding starts from the centre so the heat travels outwards, and as with the cut workers will follow a strict pattern.
Silver Spirit is the 29th ship that Fincantieri has cut in half and lengthened. The first was cargo ship Ville D’Anvers in 1980. Nowadays electronic technology helps engineers to be as accurate as the nearest centimetre when fitting the old and new sections together. It was not so – Fincantieri chiefs say that there used to be more “artistic intervention” involved while the ship was still afloat, and buoyancy presented its own challenges.
Disclaimer: This video is intended for informational purpose only. This may not be construed as a news item or advice of any sort. Please consult the experts in that field for the authenticity of the presentations.
Did you subscribe for our daily newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe!
Source: Telegraph
