Emergency Replacement of a Generator

Cascade General successfully completed the emergency replacement of a faulty 47-ton (GEC Alstom) generator on P&O’s Sea Princess. The 857’ ship, built by Fincantieri in 1998, was in dry dock at the Portland Shipyard for just nine days in September. This challenging project demanded a high level of coordination and cooperation from numerous shipyard specialists.

The generator was removed from the ship through a 15’ X 15’ opening in the side shell. It was then transported by drydock crane and trailer to an assembly bay. With only 6mm of clearance between the generator’s 20-ton rotor and 27-ton stator, they were carefully separated using an overhead crane and a high-capacity tri-lifter. The rotor was immediately inserted into a new stator housing under the supervision of the manufacturers’ representatives. The re-built 14 MVA 6,600volt unit was returned to the ship in less than 24 hours.

During the drydocking, Cascade General also overhauled the bow thrusters, sea valves, seachests and strainers, prepared and coated the underwater and surface areas and the topside white. The rudder and propeller shafts were inspected, ballast tanks surveyed, all 16 lifeboats serviced and the davits re-certified. Three fiberglass swimming-pool expansion tanks were also replaced and the ship’s waste-heat steam system repaired.