Ship Going To Dry Dock

Yesterday, one of my ship going dry dock again. A ship must go dry dock on her 2nd or 3rd year (intermediate survey) and the 5th year (special survey) in the 5 years cycle of her statutory certificates. The purpose is to do bottom plate inspection, side shell inspection, major or minor repairs, apply new coating, inspect tanks (ballast, fresh water, fuel oil and etc), inspect chain locker room, inspect sea chest valves, inspect propeller, stern tube, inspect rudder, rudder bush and etc.

My company usually dry dock in Sapor shipyard. My boss had been a loyal client or some sort with this shipyard. I never like the shipyard. I will give my review on this shipyard in my future post so you can get the picture.

My ship is been guided by a tugboat to enter the slipway. The entrance to the slipway is narrow and a push by the tugboat is helpful. The dry dock is best carried out during high tide. By the way, the shipyard is beside a river, Igan river.

At last, the ship is safe into the entrance of the slipway. 3 years ago, the ship side shell gracing the edge of the concrete entrance, causing a big hole to it.

The ship closing by to the slipway. Shipyard crane on standby for support. The slipway is been lowered down

The slipway is controlled by this wire, pull by a huge and powerful machine as shown. The wire need regular inspection and maintenance. This shipyard tend to have broken wire.

The crane is holding the ship mooring rope to pull the ship to the center.

The slipway is been lowered down into the water so it will go underneath the ship bottom plate. The ship should be positioned at the center of the slipway.


Once the slipway has supported the ship, it is been pulled up.


The ship almost successful been pulled up. Notice how close the shipyard with the town. Basically less than 1km away. Just separated by the river. With such close proximity, there tend to be pollution. I hope someone take note of this.

Notice how dirty is the underwater bottom plate is. In worse case, you might even find marine shells attached to it.

The bottom plate need to be choked with wood planks to give additional support as there are gaps between the bottom plate and the slipway. This might turn to be a stress point and deform the ship structure.

Old paint peel off. New paint required.

Ship propeller and rudder. The propeller is such a beauty. I have seen more horrible propeller blades. Lucky for us the propeller blades are not bended or suffer any major damage. Otherwise, more repair work for us.

I came across this funny graffiti on the shipyard's barricade. It reads "Welcome to cock fighting club" There is a number there for those who are interested. By the way, cock fighting is illegal here.