Seabourne Odyssey hull arrives at T.Mariotti's Genova yard

**Ally** · 05-28-2008, 02:38 AM

Quote:

The sleek steel hull which will become the ultra luxury cruise vessel Seabourn Odyssey arrived at T.Mariotti’s Genova quay on May 27. The hull was built in San Giorgio di Nogaro, in northeast Italy, and towed by sea to the T.Mariotti building site, where completion of the ship’s superstructure, final construction and fitting out will be performed over the next year.

The arrival of the hull marks a major milestone in the progress toward delivery of three ultra luxury cruise ships ordered from T.Mariotti shipyard by Seabourn, the ultra luxury brand of the Miami-based Carnival Corporation & PLC. The progress confirms the efficiency of CI.MAR. Costruzioni Navali, a new company formed by T.Mariotti (a shipyard successfully positioned in the field of ultra luxury cruise shipbuilding) and Cimolai Group (renowned in the field of steel fabrication).

When it is launched in June of 2009, Seabourn line’s innovative and technologically advanced, €180 million vessel will be the first new addition to the ultra luxury capacity of the cruise industry in six years, signalling an upturn in that segment.

At CI.MAR’s San Giorgio di Nogaro yard, the fore and aft sections of the hull were built separately. Then each of the two sections was loaded onto T.Mariotti’s submersible standard barge by a complex Ro-Ro operation and taken to a floating dock in Rijeka, Croatia, a distance of about 100 nautical miles. There they were positioned and aligned, using special trolleys SMTP by Fagioli, among the world leaders in heavy lifting and transportation. The weight of the two hull sections (fore about 3.000 tons, aft 4.000 tons, including lifting cradles), required as many as 168 four-wheel axles and eight hydraulic engines. The two halves were then welded to form a single floating hull.

The convoy in all these operations was led by the tug Sean Cristopher, owned by Genova-based Oromare. Two other local tugboats and the Harbour Office patrol boats have been involved in the manoeuvring. During the entire operation, the Corno river was closed to navigation by order of the Harbour Office.

From Rijeka, the sleek hull (17,000 GRT, about 198 mt long, with a beam of 26 mt) was taken in tow by Oromare’s tug Gianemilio and travelled non-stop for eight days from the Adriatic westward and then north around the Italian coast of to Genoa.

Seabourn Odyssey details:

GRT 32.000
L.O.A. 198.15 mt
L.W.L. 179.80 mt
L.B.P. 169,20 mt
B. Moulded 26.00 mt
Draught 6.40 mt
Depth to upper deck 15.25 mt
Depth to main deck 9.00 mt
Service Speed 19 knots
Suites: 225, 90% with private balcony
Delivery: 2009, to be followed by two sister ships: 2010, 2011

BYM Marine & Maritime News