Video of Crankshaft exchange on the MS Zaandam cruise ship

Found this video on YouTube of a recent crankshaft exchange on one of the main engines. Music is odd, but overall a good video.

Fascinating. Thanks for posting!

Thank you for the video.

Very Interesting.

Right -- weird music.

That was very interesting. Wonder how long that took? Thanks for sharing.

Allan

This an amazing video, particularly since I will be sailing on the Zaandam this Winter! Thanks for posting it!

Nice video! Thanks for sharing.

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Wow, wow, wow! That is amazing! That is some spectacular engineering.

OMG, that was fascinating! I would also like to know how long it took to do and I can't even imagine the cost. We will be on the Zaandam in January, so glad it was done. The video was posted last month. When was the crankshaft actually replaced? Was it an emergency or planned repair?

Enjoyed viewing the video.

Keith

Unbelievable and fascinating!!! The time lapse play on the video may have covered up any "glitches" in moving the crankshaft down into the ship thru the tight quarters if there were any glitches. That was not an easy task.

Our internet onboard does not support video streaming, so I can't see the youtube video, but having done a few jobs like this I can give my take on it. While not "common", these types of jobs show up several times during a career. A crankshaft renewal, again not real common but it does happen, is not difficult, except in getting the darn thing down to where you need it. From the configuration of cruise ships' engine rooms, I have to assume there was some bulkhead or deck cutting needed to get it lowered down. What I consider a really neat job was when Oasis replaced one of her centerline engines by dropping it out the bottom of the ship into the drydock, and skidding it from under the ship.

A full overhaul of an engine this size takes about 3 weeks, I would say the crank renewal added a week to that, even with the transport job going concurrently with the overhaul. Rigging to lift the crankcase to sling the old crank out and the new one in requires a lot more removal of unassociated stuff to get lifting points. The bare block is about 8-10 tons.

A typical overhaul costs about $100k, and I would say the crank renewal raised that by 50%.

This is some of what gets me, when folks get all worked up that a ship is sailing without "full power". These engines are torn down for complete overhaul every 12,000 hours (about every 2-2.5 years), and the engine is out of service for 3-4 weeks. So, for those 3-4 weeks, the ship is sailing, full of passengers, without the use of one engine, and no one is the wiser. The cruise line will set itineraries so that the ship can make the speeds required by the itinerary without the engine down for service. And given that the Zaandam has 5 engines, and there are multiple engines running most of the time, you can count on 1-2 of these overhauls happening every year.

Wow - great video. Thank you so much for posting the link.

Wow.

Very interesting.

Thanks for posting the link.

Our internet onboard does not support video streaming, so I can't see the youtube video, but having done a few jobs like this I can give my take on it. While not "common", these types of jobs show up several times during a career. A crankshaft renewal, again not real common but it does happen, is not difficult, except in getting the darn thing down to where you need it. From the configuration of cruise ships' engine rooms, I have to assume there was some bulkhead or deck cutting needed to get it lowered down. What I consider a really neat job was when Oasis replaced one of her centerline engines by dropping it out the bottom of the ship into the drydock, and skidding it from under the ship.

 

A full overhaul of an engine this size takes about 3 weeks, I would say the crank renewal added a week to that, even with the transport job going concurrently with the overhaul. Rigging to lift the crankcase to sling the old crank out and the new one in requires a lot more removal of unassociated stuff to get lifting points. The bare block is about 8-10 tons.

 

A typical overhaul costs about $100k, and I would say the crank renewal raised that by 50%.

 

This is some of what gets me, when folks get all worked up that a ship is sailing without "full power". These engines are torn down for complete overhaul every 12,000 hours (about every 2-2.5 years), and the engine is out of service for 3-4 weeks. So, for those 3-4 weeks, the ship is sailing, full of passengers, without the use of one engine, and no one is the wiser. The cruise line will set itineraries so that the ship can make the speeds required by the itinerary without the engine down for service. And given that the Zaandam has 5 engines, and there are multiple engines running most of the time, you can count on 1-2 of these overhauls happening every year.

Thanks so much for that most interesting and helpful info. I didn't realize this was a relatively common occurrence.

Thanks so much for that most interesting and helpful info. I didn't realize this was a relatively common occurrence.

Well, I've done a couple of crankshaft renewals in 40 years, so not that common, but overhauls/repairs/renewals/upgrades where we have to cut away parts of the ship to gain access for the work, for various equipment/reasons have probably happened every 3-4 years.

Once again, I surely appreciate chengkp75's input on this thread! Thanks Chief!

From the information I saw in the video, it appears that the work was done in Uruguay. I am surprised by this. The video shows, I think, workers from at least two different companies as well as some of the Zaandam's engineering staff involved in doing this work.

Once again, I surely appreciate chengkp75's input on this thread! Thanks Chief!

 

From the information I saw in the video, it appears that the work was done in Uruguay. I am surprised by this. The video shows, I think, workers from at least two different companies as well as some of the Zaandam's engineering staff involved in doing this work.

There will be technicians from Wartsila (who own Sulzer, the engine manufacturer), and probably from a local ship repair contractor. The manufacturer's reps travel where ever the ship is to do the work, and work done in service, or merely at a wet dock between cruises can be done at any major port around the world.

There will be technicians from Wartsila (who own Sulzer, the engine manufacturer), and probably from a local ship repair contractor. The manufacturer's reps travel where ever the ship is to do the work, and work done in service, or merely at a wet dock between cruises can be done at any major port around the world.

The video was made by a company called Ale who seemed to be the major contractor. Men wearing work coveralls on whose backs said "Century" were seen, particularly as the old crankshaft was being removed from the Zaandam. I saw no one wearing any work clothes as being connected with Wartsila, Maybe present, but not shown in the video?

The video was made by a company called Ale who seemed to be the major contractor. Men wearing work coveralls on whose backs said "Century" were seen, particularly as the old crankshaft was being removed from the Zaandam. I saw no one wearing any work clothes as being connected with Wartsila, Maybe present, but not shown in the video?

Very often, a local ship repair company will become the licensed service representatives of the major engine manufacturers. Their service engineers are trained by the manufacturer at the home facilities, and their work is guaranteed as meeting manufacturer's standards. For example, Transmarine Propulsion, Goltens, and ChrisMarine are some of the big players in the US, representing nearly every major engine manufacturer. Cruise lines will typically also want one rep from the manufacturer as well, but he will normally be involved in the overhaul work per se, not necessarily ancillary work like rigging a crank through the ship. Sometimes companies won't want their company logo represented in other company's videos as well. I don't know who the major players are in Uruguay, so I can't say whether either company you mention is a licensed rep.

Thank you for posting the link.

Very interesting.

I know some people that work for MTU that works mainly on MTU engines that power Coast Guard Cutters so I know it is common to have manufacturing personnel for major work.

On the Noordam last year on the behind the scenes tour I saw a set of cylinder heads that showed signs they were taken out of service. Most likely changed while under their Alaska season.