MV Huelin Dispatch has returned to its regularly thrice weekly run between the Channel Islands and Portsmouth having just undergone a major refit in the shipyard in Hamburg where she was built 25 years ago. The refit was carried out in the Norderwerft yard where mv Huelin Dispatch and more than 60 of her sister ships were built in the late 1970s. The voyage to and from the shipyard took two days and the ship was in dry dock for 17 days.

The refit was a major one and involved lifting the entire accommodation block off the hull – a first for this particular repair facility – so that the deck plating above the engine room could be replaced. While the hull was open to the elements, five of the diesel engine’s eight cylinders were reconditioned while generators, couplings and pumps were overhauled. New steelwork was fitted in the holds and the propeller, rudder and bow thruster were removed and refurbished.

“Although 25 years old and with thousands of Channel crossings to her credit, the ship generally was in very sound condition,” says master manager Captain Willie Woodard, “And the major works that have now been carried out will give her many more years of useful life. Although the yard where she was refitted no longer build ships, their expertise and familiarity with this class of vessel meant that all the works were able to be carried out on time and to budget.

”Newly painted and refurbished, the Huelin Dispatch returned to its regular sailings at the beginning of the month.

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