Last month, during a quarantine Sunday, a 71,475 tons container ship suffered a collision during berthing maneuvers at the  port  of  Cristobal,  in  the  Atlantic  entrance  of  the Panama Canal. The Neo-Panamax vessel hit the berth structure, causing serious damages to the ship and the terminal facilities.

The  vessel  breached  the  hull of the No. 1 Deep Water Ballast Tank.  The length of rupture was approximately 5 meters, with  a  deformation  measuring a width of almost 3 meters.   Just minutes after the accident we got in contact with the ship’s  superintendent  in  Europe,  and  we  were  instructed  to board immediately to come up with a repair plan on an urgent basis, since the vessel had a critical schedule to keep, during this pandemic.

After  evaluating   the  extension  of  the  damage,  an   agreement   was  reached  to  perform  permanent  repairs   with approximately  10  tons  of  steel.  The  process involved pre-fabricating steel members at our workshop.  Once the new steel structures arrived on the vessel, we performed the fitting, production welding, and NDT & inspection of welds, on the shell plate and internal structures, including the side longitudinal frames and stringers.

The job was performed within the given window, in bad rainy weather, to the satisfaction of the attending P&I and ABS class surveyor, and applying the highest level of COVID-19 safety protocols.