On the weekend of Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th of October we had the unusual sight of having both Searoad Tamar and Searoad Mersey in port on the same day due to the necessity of important un-planned maintenance work, the Searoad Mersey was given the Sunday off.
Searoad Mersey's Rudder Repairs
After discharge of cargo Saturday morning she
shifted from her usual berth of Number 2 Webb
Dock to Number 3 Webb Dock where divers and
crew worked through the night to replace a
damaged hinge pin on her port rudder.
On the Sunday morning Searoad Tamar arrived,
discharged then loaded available cargo to sail
again early Sunday afternoon. All rudder
repair work and testing was completed
later that afternoon. Early Monday morning
she returned to Number 2 Berth ready for
loading cargo and sailed for Devonport at
her normal departure time of 4:30 pm.
The work that was completed in difficult
conditions, including underwater fitting
cutting and welding resulted in a permanent
repair being achieved. This included some
innovation and long hours on the part of
SeaRoad staff and averted what may have
been the requirement for a costly emergency
dry docking that would have interrupted the
vessel’s trading schedule to a far greater
degree than the repair did.