The UK Docks workforce at our Sandquay facility, based in Dartmouth, have received team recognition and credit from Captain H Duffy, Captain for the Royal Navy, for their valued efforts and a ‘can do attitude’.
The Captain described the team as ‘a credit to Britannia Royal Naval College’ and thoroughly deserving of recognition.
GulfMark NS were experiencing problems with excessive rolling on the vessel ‘Highland Chieftain’ and a modification to the vessel was required. This modification required antiroll tanks to be installed onto the ship in order to reduce the roll motion and roll angle during adverse weather conditions. The antiroll sections were manufactured in the Netherlands and GulfMark contracted UK Docks to carry out the installation of the tanks onto the vessel. Timing was crucial on this project as the vessel was on charter providing Offshore Supply Services however, due to a gap in the charter schedule, the vessel was able to collect the pre-manufactured units from a port in the Netherlands and sail to UK Docks facility at Middlesbrough.
On arrival, the vessel was dry docked and preparations began with removing all of the vessel structure aft of the accommodation so that the new antiroll tanks could be installed directly against the aft face of the vessels accommodation. The tanks were constructed as a complete single section weighing approximately 60 tones and extending across the entire weather deck from port to starboard side and extend upward from the deck to the bridge deck.
Once the tanks were installed as a seamless and fully integrated part of the ships structure, further extensions were made to the ships structure to include foundations for ships cranes that were installed to both Port and Starboard sides of the vessel. All ships structure such as walkways and access stairs, which had previously been removed, were refitted to the vessel.
The vessel was re-painted on completion of all works and the vessel was handed back to the owners on the scheduled date, sixteen days after arrival at UK Docks dry dock facility.
UK Docks have agreed a 30 year lease with PD Ports to re-open the former Smiths Dock Ship Repair Company based on the River Tees, Middlesbrough, taking over the two dry docks with dimensions of 137 m x 18.6 m (No. 4 Dock) and 167.6 m x 20.4 m (No. 3 Dock) as well as fully equipped repair berth, several cranes, workshops and a stores facility.
This is an exciting development for UK Docks and emphasises its commitment to developing the company and increasing the scope of project vessel capacity. The addition of another two dry docks and additional capability will give us the ability to dock vessels up to 20.5m beam and 167m LOA which will allow us to develop new markets and the size size of vessels to be dry docked.
The facility is expected to be open within the next few months so we’ll keep you posted on how this develops!
The MOD has awarded £111 million worth of new contracts to maintain its fleet of small boats. UK Docks is one of six companies that will benefit from the five year contract will involve support for a fleet of 1,450 boats used by the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army and MoD Police, including offshore raiding craft, Pontoons up to 50 metres in length, police launches and Pacific 24 Ribs and inflatables.
UK Docks will provide maintenance, upkeep, repair, defect rectification, technical support and provision of spares for the West coast vessels operating between Faslane Naval Base and Devonport Royal Dockyard and the entire P2000 Archer Class Vessels.
UK Docks welcomed their new workforce operating from the Sandquay site in Dartmouth. The addition of the highly skilled team which consists of mechanical and electrical engineers and specialist boat repairers will continue to operate the Dartmouth site servicing training craft and providing boat repair and maintenance work on all of the Britania Royal Naval College boats which include the BRNC’s picket boats, motor whalers and various sailing craft.
Whitehaven Marina Ltd are pleased to welcome UK Docks Marine Services on-site as a new service provider as the marine engineering firm expand their existing Tyneside, South Shields and Gosport, Hampshire operations. UK Docks have widened operations to the West Coast in order to service current contracts as well as develop operations within the growing wind farm industry.
UK Docks will be operating from one of three bays in the purpose built, state of the art boat shed completed in 2008. In addition to the standard expected facilities, the building provides overhead gantries, compressed air and vacuum systems, and under floor heating – one of the best equipped and modern boat sheds in the North West of England.
The work of UK Docks in expanding marine services on the Tyne, Wear and now Tees has been recognised with a major industry award.
Founded by Tynesider Harry Wilson in South Shields in 1995, the dry dock specialists has consistently grown in size and scale and is now a national company running boat repair facilities on the South Coast at Gosport and the North West at Whitehaven.
