Technical Manager for the UND ships is Bluewater Marine, which has participated in their design and building. The company stresses the importance of building for long-term operation.

According to Ian Buchanan, managing director at Bluewater Marine, all parties have learned much from the series of vessels, to such an extent that the sixth ship is better than the first, with more lane metres of cargo space and half-a-knot faster speed for the same fuel consumption. The vessels are operating well and in line with expectations.

Maintenance system
One of the main tools during the building process was the DNV-approved Planned Maintenance System (PMS), which started when the first steel was cut and will continue throughout the lifetime of each vessel.

PMS is a survey of machinery based on annual audits of the planned maintenance system onboard. It is very flexible for the operators as the surveyor bases inspection of machinery components on documented maintenance history. Opening up of components simply for class survey can then be avoided. Annual surveys are carried out in order to verify correct use and proper follow-up of the system.

Teething problems
There have been some teething problems with the fuel pumps in the main engines. Bluewater Marine has worked closely with Caterpillar, manufacturer of the MAK engines, to solve this problem. The fuel pumps have been redesigned and modified, and the new final design was to be fitted to the first ship at the end of August 2002. The problem, and its solution, has given the ship engineers a great deal of valuable experience, according to Buchanan.