Peene-Werft GmbH ‑ A Modern Compact Yard On Its Way Ahead

Peene-Werft GmbH – A Modern Compact Yard On Its Way Ahead by. Hermann Bliss, Peene-Werft GmbH, Captain GE Navy ret, head of naval marketing With a wide-spread scale of its products, i.e. its variety in merchant ships, naval vessels and authority boats, Peene -Werft GmbH in Wolgast deserves particular interest among all Baltic shipyards. Belonging to the Hegemann-Group Peene-Werft beside Rolandwerft in Berne and Deutsche Industrie-Werke in Berlin was the main yard in the past, but since the Volkswerft in Stralsund has been taken over from A.P. Møller/Maersk by Mr. Detlef Hegemann in August 2007 the group in total has gained in terms of capacity and flexibility. Based on the Peene river, at Wolgast, the yard has been delivering a near constant stream of containerships over the past five years. As the world’s deepsea containerships get ever more massive, so the ‘feeder’ vessels required to serve them get larger – and Peene-Werft is well placed to benefit from the strong demand in this sector. This year the yard will deliver seven ships of up to 1600 teu capacity (twentyfoot equivalent units)- these are the biggest ships it can build in its current facilities. The yard is occupied until the end of 2010 with contracts. A key factor in all of this has been size. The world’s giant deepsea containerships, increasingly delivering just about everything we need from China and Asia, make perhaps only two calls in Europe. The containers carried by these deepsea ships must be collected from and delivered to other ‘local’ ports by feeder ships. Ten years ago, the feeder vessels used for this onward shipment were generally around 700 teu. Now, with deepsea ships of over 10,000 teu scarcely raising eyebrows and 15,000 page 1 of 5 teu ships on the drawing board, larger feeder ships are needed to serve them. The size of ships Peene-Werft now is producing would have been the normal size of ships trading worldwide 10 to 15 years ago. Nowadays these are feeder vessels. The obvious question is how does Peene-Werft compete against the giant, low-cost shipyards churning out containerships in South Korea, China and elsewhere in Asia. Some of these yards have 8km of production space – and they could build feeder size ships, probably for a cheaper price than in Europe. However, there other advantages to be taken into account for the benefit of Europe. Especially for the Peene-Werft counts its highly sophisticated production facilities and its undoubted reliability in terms of time and quality standards. The later are as high that the owners know they can keep the ships in service for at least 15 years. Looking back the Peene -Werft yard was founded in 1948. Since then, the yard has built more than 650 ships and carried out the conversion and repair of hundreds more. After the yard was privatised in 1992, becoming part of the Hegemann group, a huge investment programme created one of the most modern shipyards in Europe. The yard has been certified according to ISO 9001 by Germanischer Lloyd since 1995. As well as its work in the commercial sector, it has a long record of success in the military field, building and repairing vessels worldwide, but particularly for the Deutsche Marine, and also in working on fishery protection and coastguard vessels. Right now, the biggest problem the yard is facing is probably the same issue that is driving orders: increasing ship size. Peene-Werft is limited by the draft available in the Peene river, which is 6.5m guaranteed, but clients are also looking for larger feeder ships, so now one is talking about 2000 teu, which requires a depth of 7.5 metres. page 2 of 5 There has been a good deal of bureaucracy delaying this proposition, but the yard is hoping that the German government will go ahead with this work soon, so that the river will be deepened by 2009 at the latest. The biggest ships built so far at the yard were 1530 teu vessels. The 1600 teu vessels on the actual orderbook are no larger, but simply have a different layout in order to carry more boxes. Both the 1530 and 1600 teu ships are 184m in length. Peene-Werft has been delivering 1400 teu ships this year to the Schoeller group, based in Cyprus and Simatech, in Dubai. The 1600 teu ships are on order for Arkas, a Turkish shipowner. Peene-Werft has two production lines: the commercial line, where it can build up to seven containerships a year, and the line concentrating on naval, authority and fishery protection newbuilds and repairs of all kinds. The commercial line features a dry dock which is 180m long and 27.5m wide. The yard got around the length limitation when building the larger ships by building the vessel’s nose separately and welding this on to the bow outside the dry dock. This was done for the first time in 2005 and hence the 1400 teu ships are 170m long, they are built completely in the dock. The second production line features a Syncrolift, which lifts ships completely out of the water so that they can be worked on in the equivalent of a car park for ships. The Syncrolift lifts ships of up to 110m long and 15m wide, up to 2400 tonnes in weight. The yard has more than 30 cranes serving its shipbuilding halls, quays and dry docks. And beside other remarkable recent investments there is a new mobile crane with 100 tonnes lift capacity and 43m outreach. The yard is an acknowledged partner of the German Navy/Deutsche Marine, the coastguard and other authorities and is well known for its accurate work and high reliability. Peene -Werft is qualified to work on all types of German naval vessels page 3 of 5 except frigates Class F 123/124, which it cannot accommodate because of the before mentioned shallow river. In 2000, the yard began regular overhaul work on the German submarines Type 206A, up to the repair level of hull cutting, which requires highly specialised technical standards. Peene-Werft also works in partnership with other yards – for instance as a subcontractor in building the stern part of five German corvettes K 130. In 1992 a government contract has included the conversion of two Sassnitz type patrol boats to be used as Federal Border Police patrol boats, fulfilling the duties of patrol, sea police and coastguard tasks. The vessels had been built with an extreme lightweight method using high-tensile steel for the hull and aluminium alloy for deckhouse. Peene-Werft fitted each boat with new main engines and diesel generators, a complete new electrical plant, microprocessor controlled bridge and engine control devices and a sewage treatment plant. Communication, navigation, signalling and information equipment were also installed. With the Spill Response Vessel (SUBS) for the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing (BMVBW) the Peene-Werft delivered another highly sophisticated special ship. The multi-purpose vessel is ready for duty within the framework of the maritime emergency response in the North and Baltic Sea for fighting against oil- and chemical spills and for executing emergency towing operations in the Baltic Sea. Furthermore the concept includes an engagement in icebreaking, handling seamarks and fullfilling tasks of the shipping police. For the intended purpose the vessel is equipped with special winches, boats, cranes, skimmers, separation plants, cargo tanks and fire fighting systems. For use under dangerous conditions the vessel can be operated in anti-gas mode. page 4 of 5 Not to forget and therefore mentioned the fact that Peene-Werft delivered from 1993 to 1999 6 Patrol Boats (200 t) to the Brazilian Navy. These newbuildings are used for the defence of the sea frontier, of the oil fields and for the execution of customs tasks. The steel hull is built in a longitudinal frame construction and has a continuous deck with chamber and sheer. The superstructure and the mast are made of aluminium. Peene-Werft has CAD/CAM controlled cutting, welding and assembly equipment for efficient, high q uality steel fabrication. There are combined plasma and oxygen cutting plants, while welding methods and techniques are in place for the processing of steel, stainless steel, non-magnetic steel, aluminium and special metallic materials. The fabrication, pre-outfitting and assembly of block modules takes place in a series of very large, heatable fabrication/shipbuilding halls, including one of 110 m long and 34 m wide and another measuring 90 m by 30 m. As well as naval and containerships, over the years the yard has turned out roll-on/roll off ships, general cargo vessels, research vessels, dredger, sea and harbour tugs, spill response vessels and other floating equipment. Orders come from owners worldwide. Peene-Werft employs some 800 high skilled workforce. Of the 800, Peene-Werft has an astonishing 100 apprentices – a refreshing statistic in a sector with a markedly ageing workforce, which is a significant investment in the future. In addition in December 2005 the yard opened a new and very sophisticated training centre in which its apprentices learn the basic as well as special processes in a high-tech environment, in order to get ready for the future. All in all a fantastic scope, which is worth to focus on the Hegemann-Group. page 5 of 5