As part of the Dutch Maritime Pilot’s Association’s (Loodswezen) ongoing fleet upgrade programme, Nautim has completed the engineering and project management of the midlife upgrade of the twin-hulled SWATH pilot vessel Perseus. The primary aim of the project was to refit the Perseus to the exact configuration as the recently upgraded pilot vessel Cetus.
Nautim concluded the midlife upgrade of the 25.65-metre Cetus in December 2016. Following this successful contract, Loodswezen once again called on Nautim to carry out a similar project on the Perseus. The reason for the works was to ensure that Loodswezen’s crews could work in a consistent working environment, in terms of both vessel performance and layout.
Precision engineering
“The Cetus upgrade was a substantial project,” begins Nautim’s Vincent de Jong. “The work involved most of the vessel’s main systems, as well as many major components. This made the vessel faster, more stable and more responsive. For the Perseus project, we have delivered the same results of vessel performance.”
One challenging characteristic of the project was to produce exactly the same layout of technical equipment as the first upgrade. Examples of this precision engineering can be seen in the positioning of valves and piping, in addition to buttons on control panels. “There was no room for variation or improvisation. All the components – and especially the control panels for these components – had to be in the same place.”
Consistency of performance
The benefits for Loodswezen’s technical personnel for such a midlife upgrade are clear: “It doesn’t matter what vessel they are working on – whether it’s the Cetus or the Perseus – the technical crews can operate both vessels using the same operational procedures. And crucially, both vessels will respond in the same way.”
After sea trials at the beginning of December, and the completion of the last remaining tasks, Nautim rounded off the Perseus upgrade project last week.