Repair of ship Solitaire

In June 2020, one of the most important ship repair projects of the last decade was carried out at Astilleros de Cádiz. This is the Solitaire, a Pipe Layer type vessel, the largest of its kind in the world, which is currently sailing under the Maltese flag. Designed and built for laying marine pipelines in deep waters, this 300 m long vessel stands out for its huge and powerful crane, which protrudes 148 m from the hull. With a record laying depth of 2,700 m, it operates laying 9 km of pipelines per day under normal circumstances.

The year 2020 was particularly difficult for Astilleros de Navantia Cádiz, where the entire cruise ship refurbishment schedule was disrupted by the pandemic caused by the coronavirus.

Owned by the Dutch shipping company Allseas, the Solitaire arrives at the Cadiz Shipyard with the aim of extending its useful life, since part of its structure comes from a bulk carrier launched in 1972. Within a complex repair program, the 10 azimuth propellers are removed, 2 sections of the articulated arm that supports the pipeline during the works at sea, and 500 tons of steel are renewed.

Resa Group worked from the very day the ship was received at the shipyard, in June 2020, until March 2021, when all the works were completed. In the execution, with peaks of 600 workers and investing 30,000 hours in the different stages of repair, Resa Group intervened decisively with 50 scaffolders and more than 1,000 tons of Resablok material.

Resa Group Engineering Department provided the necessary calculations to safely erect the structures required, according to the difficulty and specialty of each job.

Also, an incredible work of resanation and painting was carried out on the ballast tanks, deck cranes, wheelhouse, stinger and its shaft, with the upper structure that supports it in the piping works.

Finally, it is worth mentioning the absence of incidents and the scrupulous performance in prevention matters by all the teams involved from Navantia, Resa Group and the rest of the participating companies.