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I personally love to be on a ship due for dry dock. After all, you
get to see things which you don’t see during routine operation
of the ship.
I was lucky enough to get a chance to be in dry dock in each
rank I have served on. I was even lucky to experience the
double-hull conversion of a tanker during dry dock.
But if you have not been to a dry dock, there would be one
thing that might come to your mind on hearing the word Dry
Dock. And that is dry dock calculation that we read in ship
stability, probably during our Mate’s exams.
The time from “when Stern touches the blocks” to when “full
ship is on the blocks” is the critical period.
I will specifically be talking about taking the ship into the dock
and making it sit on the blocks.
Days before the planned dry dock, Dock master will make the
first contact with the ship. He can do so either directly or
through the company representative such as superintendent.
Pre-docking condition
Some of the content of his email might look something like this
3) Location of sea chests and drain plugs for the same reason.
Based on the docking plan provided by the ship, dock master
prepares his own docking plan for the ship. Below are some of
the sections of actual docking plan prepared by dock master for
s ship arriving for dry dock.
Have a look at the more closer view below, which is again from
same docking plan prepared by dock master.
I think the above image make it more clear about what dock
master is trying to achieve from the docking plan. If you want
to see the stern view too. Here is it.
And this is no theory. This is an actual docking plan prepared
by dock master for a ship arriving at dry dock.
Apart from docking plan, dock master would ask arrival weight
distribution of the ship.
Pre-docking condition
Ship sitting on the blocks but dock not yet empty (also called
wet condition by dock master)
Docking with zero ballast is the ideal condition. But most of the
times this would not be possible. That is because docking
master would limit you for the maximum trim that you can
have. In zero ballast condition, your trim may be more than 2
meters.
Dock master would want you to reduce the trim to around 0.5
meters. This depends on the dock on how much trim you can
have before docking.
When the ship is on the blocks, you have already passed the
critical period. Dock master will tell you to start deballasting.
The only concern dock master will have is the ship should not
refloat.
But the question is why the dock master need the vessel to
remove the ballast concurrently when he empties the dock?
This is because dock water does not want to have more weight
on the blocks. When the ship is sitting on the blocks but has
water inside the dock, there is a certain amount of buoyancy
ship has. This buoyancy acts like upthrust which reduces the
effective weight acting on the blocks.
Now that we know about the stability part, let’s look into each
stage of taking the ship to the dry dock.
Arrival to dry docking port
Most of the time, the ship is taken to the lay-up berth before
going into the dry dock. If not, vessel needs to be at anchor for
deballasting to arrive at the Pre-docking condition.
For shifting to the dock, the pilot will board the vessel. As the
ship’s engine will not be available, the ship will have a number
of tugs to move the ship to dry dock. The number of tugs
would depend on how big the ship is and how powerful the tugs
are. In any case, all ships can expect 5 tugs or more.
Depending upon the dock, the ship will either enter stern in or
bow in.
The pilot will bring the ship parallel to the dock. When the stern
(or bow whichever is entering first) is close to the dock
knuckle, docking master will take over from the pilot. Docking
Master is different from dock master. Docking Master may not
board the vessel and will be giving instructions to the tugs from
the dock itself.
When the ship is inside the dock, ship’s crew need to pass the
mooring lines as per the agreed mooring arrangement. Usually
forward and aft will have two lines on each side. Out of two
lines on each side, one on each side can be shore line. But this
can be different and mooring arrangements will be advised by
the dock master.
When the ship is made fast with the moorings, docking master
will sign off and dock master will take over.
Dock master will let the vessel know when Stern has touched
the blocks and when the ship is on the blocks.
After the ship is on the blocks, dock master will tell to start
pumping out ballast to arrive at the wet condition.
As the dock water is being pumped out, at one point the water
will go down from the generator cooling water sea chest.
After this point ship will get power supply from shore.
You should check if shore power will be enough for running the
ballast pump and mooring winches. If not, this should be
discussed with dock master in advance. He will then ensure
that water level does not go below sea chest until you have
pumped out required ballast.
Once on shore power, dock master would continue to dry the
dock. He will tell you to take out all ballast accordingly. You
may do so with gravity as same might be more effective.
Once the dock is dry and ship sitting on the blocks, you can line
up to deballast all ballast tanks by gravity. This is to let all the
water drain whatever is left in the ballast tanks.
So now you have already brought the ship to the dry dock. It is
a wonderful view to see the ship out of the water. You should
not wait to go down in the dock and have a look at her.
The Ship repair manager will now request the chief officer to
witness the removal of the bottom plugs.
As you know, each tank which forms part of the hull has a
bottom plug to drain the water in dry dock.
Removing bottom plugs ensure that the tanks are empty and
dry. As bottom plug of each tank is removed, it is important to
label it. This will ensure that bottom plugs are not interchanged
while fitting back.
Though plugs of all the ballast tanks are of the same size, it is
best practice to fit back plugs which belong to each tank.
After few hectic days in dry dock, it would be time to leave dry
dock. We need to be equally attentive in leaving the dry dock
as we were while coming into the dry dock.
Before dock master floods the dry dock, all the underwater
things need to be in order. This includes sea chests, ICCP
system, echo sounder sensors, log sensors and drain plugs.
Echo sounder, log and drain plugs are tested for air and
water tightness. Testing involves first putting soap solution
around the drain plug. Then we create the vacuum around
drain plug and look for any bubbles.
It would involve
5. Flooding the dock up to the level where the ship is fully afloat.
7. Taking the ship out of the dock with the help of tugs.
If you are going to a dry dock, Enjoy the learning process. And
let me know in the comments below if there was anything that
should form a part of this guide.