DORMAC NAVIGATOR FEBRUARY 2010
CHEVRON LPG FSO ESCRAVOS

Dormac has just completed their biggest project undertaken ever with the completion of the dry-docking of the Chevron LPG FSO Escrarvos rig in Cape Town.  The project was executed between the Cape Town and Durban branches of Dormac.  Chevron has very high standards of safety and Dormac was able to operate within there safety protocols due to the high safety standards that are being adhered to by Dormac on a daily basis and which were implemented throughout this project.

This enabled Dormac to add Chevron to the list of the other clients namely Teqnip, BP and Solstad to name a few, that Dormac have been accredited with.

The scope of work on the Escravos project included the onboard fitting of a 150mt generator which included the supplying and fitting of new cables.  Other work completed included the overhauling of the cryogenic valves, sea valves, electric motors, fans and pumps amongst others.

Two lifeboats were removed, fully painted, tested and re-fitted.

Various maker’s men were assisted on this project namely Rolls Royce (generators), Appleton (cranes), Alfa Laval (coolers), Aalborg (boilers), Terrasaki (electrical), Konesborg (electrical) and Hamworth amongst others.

The blasting and painting division completed a total of approximately 15 000m² which consisted of the hull and deck areas.  Blasting was done on the deck, accommodation, cargo tanks and cargo holds.  The helipad included an area of 600m² which was blasted and a non-skid paint was applied.  To successfully complete the blasting and painting the accommodation had to be fully staged, high pressure cleaned and painted.  In total the work scope for the blasting took 6 days and 7 days to complete the painting.  There were about 100 blasting and painting staff using 60 nozzles on the project.

The machine shop assisted with the overhauling and fitting of the Sofec swivels that are attached to the turret onboard.  The swivels were transported to Durban via road to be cleaned and overhauled prior to being fitted with new seals and bearings, re-assembled and pressure tested.  The swivels were returned to Cape Town via road and fitted onboard to the turrets within two weeks.  The overhead turret units were fabricated in Durban and returned to Cape Town as well for fitment onboard.

The initial concept of having a mobile squad has been implemented to offer a unique service to all existing and potential clients within the shipping industry throughout all the major ports in South Africa and Walvis Bay.  With this concept having successfully proved itself with the Escravos project, a long term strategy will be adopted to assist other vessel owners and managers with future projects of this nature.

DORMAC DURBAN - SHIP REPAIRS
WEHR BLANKANESE

The Dormac team was once again busy in Durban with the successful dry docking of MV Wehr Blankanese.  The vessel arrived at the DORMAC repair quay to discharge 17 hatch covers which were stored on the Dormac slipway. The hatch covers were stowed on trestles and blocks to allow for the required inspections and repairs to take place.   The repair work to the hatch covers included replacing the sealing rubbers, repairs to the rubber channels and replacing of the landing pads on all covers.

The vessel shifted into the dry dock after all hatch covers were removed to complete the rest of the required repairs. 

The repairs completed in the dock consisted of removing the bottom plugs, opening the sea grating and the bow grating for access, the anodes were replaced, hull high pressure washing including blasting and painting, tail shaft survey, forward seals bonded into position, change of seals to the bow thruster, the arrangement and calibration of the anchor chains, various safety valves were tested, overhauled and certified, thickness gauging was carried out for a special survey, various steel work in the fuel and ballast tanks was performed, various pipes were renewed as well as load testing of the deck equipment.

The vessel returned to the Dormac Repair Quay after dry docking to return the repaired hatch cover’s onboard.

HULL109

Dormac have recently completed the building of Hull 109, the latest bunker barge which is scheduled to operate in the Port of Durban, for Unicorn Shipping.  The final phase which involved, blasting and painting, was completed in the floating dock.  The barge entered the floating dock on Wednesday 16 December 2009 work was completed on Friday 18 December 2009. The barge is currently berthed at the Dormac Repair Quay whilst preparing to undergo sea trials.

INDUSTRIAL
Dormac Industrial division has been very busy assisting in the sugar and paper industry lately.  The sugar industry has commenced with their off-crop season which is during the month of December. This allows the mills to perform routine maintenance and repairs.
A number of centrifugal baskets are being tested and repaired for various mills situated all over the country. These mills are based as far as  the Illovo mill in Umzimkulu near Port Shepstone-KZN right the way to TSB Malenlane in Mpumalanga.

The industrial division has been doing work for sugar mills in parts of Africa such as Swaziland and as far afield as Zambia. The scope of work includes re-grooving, repairs of shafts and pinions for the sugar rollers as well as repairs to the coupling boxes. The season will really kick into gear from January when most mills will continue stripping equipment after their brief rest period. The paper and pulp industry is also keeping the Industrial division busy. The scope of work being done includes various rollers being machined, re-stubbed and balanced as well as log grabs being re-conditioned.

A number of Low Pressure and High Pressure Feeders from mills all over South Africa are being overhauled including a big 900Lt HP feeder for Sappi, Ngodwana, a 600Lt LP feeder for Sappi, Tugela and a 130Lt HP feeder and a 80Lt LP feeder for Mondi, Piet Retief.

A number of water cooled equipment are being fabricated for Richard’s Bay Minerals and various small items from the quarries in and around Durban are keeping the fitting bay on their toes.  The equipment for RBM (Richards Bay Minerals) is a very labor intensive and time consuming process with a lot of specialized welding taking place. 

This is due to Third party inspectors checking every weld very closely to meet exact standards before the next layer of material can be fitted and welded. The Industrial department’s current projects include machining a number of big rolls for Hulamin, which is an independent producer of semi-finished and fabricated aluminium products. The project was awarded to Dormac as the clients praised the quality of workmanship and expertise of the Dormac staff.

The following apprentices have passed their trade test in the last 3 months:- A. Jeewa - Turner S.S Dlamini - Fitter K. Ramnarain - Turner J. Morrison - Fitter E. S. Ngubo - Fitter Congratulations on this achievement Mr A Jeewa.

All of these accomplishments were made possible by the dedication and high quality training and direction the learners received from our Machine Shop staff. The staff include Neil Cobb, Sadullah Kocaoglu, James Liebenberg, Craig Vercuil, Noel Morel and Mark Frankson.  Well done team!

DORMAC CAPE TOWN - SHIP REPAIRS
The Dormac Cape Town office has been extremely busy over the last few months as shipping traffic appears to be on the increase on the West Coast. 

The O.S.A.H. Tug , Far Swan,  arrived in Cape Town and the vessel required minor auxiliary engine spares which were manufactured and supplied by Dormac Cape Town. The Cape Town team assisted with the vessel Vicky Tide.  This vessel is very unique as the hull is constructed entirely of aluminium. The vessel had sustained numerous cracks to bollards, hand railings and the gangway. The Dormac Cape Town team completed the welding procedure and all the final repairs to the owners and the classification society requirements.

The MT LS Jacoba ,a regular caller to the Port of Cape Town, required electrical, pipe and steel renewals which were completed successfully.

The magnificent passenger liner vessel the Explorer of the Seas recently visited the city of Cape Town.  The vessel, a 142,000- ton, 3,114-guest passenger liner has the highest space-per-guest ratio in the cruise market. The scope of work required included aluminium gangway repairs which were carried out insitu allowing for the safe embarkation of the guests.  New life boat securing brackets were manufactured and installed.

Another regular caller to Cape Town is the USS Sumner. On this call, Dormac was required to change out a kenter shackle on the starboard anchor chain. With the assistance of a mobile crane, Dormac fitters used a safety basket to gain access to the anchor chain, which was then attached to the crane hook and heaved onto the quay side where the kenter shackle could be installed. The old kenter shackle was removed and a new shackle supplied by the vessel, the total operation took 3 hours to complete.

DORMAC'S NEW FACILITIES IN CAPE TOWN

When Dormac purchased Umkhumbi Marine in 2005, the intention was to gain a foothold in the ship repair market in Cape Town and to add to the service offered by Dormac in other Ports around the country. This strategy proved successful and as a result, the company grew from strength to strength over the next four years, eventually resulting in the original workshops became too small to carry out larger projects and thus causing restrictions to the growth of the Company.

During 2009 our Directors, together with our team in Cape Town, reached the conclusion that in order to take full advantage of the opportunities that existed in the “Offshore Oil and Gas Industry” and to increase our capacities we would need larger premises. Specific attention was paid to under hook heights and lifting capacities to cater for specialized propulsion systems used in the offshore industry. In addition a large lay down area for fabrications was catered for. When investigating these special needs in potential properties in Paarden Eiland,  a facility with these criteria was nowhere to be found and the only way forward was to find a vacant piece of ground and develop it to the specific needs of the Company.The vacant land was found at Number One Paarden Eiland Street the closest address to the Cape Town Harbour.

Construction of the facility is well underway with occupation planned for May 2010. The two 25 ton gantry cranes have been purchased from Demag and will be installed in March 2010.

The facility boasts an undercover lay down area of 1,800 square meters, office space of 700 square meters, a Tandem Lift with a lifting capacity of 50 tons as well as lifting 10 Tons in the Mechanical Bay.

It also has stores, change rooms, mess rooms and ablution facilities of 240 square meters thus meeting all the requirements to make this project a success for Dormac as well as procure ground in the ship repair market in South Africa.

DORMAC WALVIS BAY
Dormac Walvis Bay continues to grow from strength to strength reinforcing the need for establishing a fully operational Marine Engineering branch in Walvis Bay.

Dormac Walvis Bay made marine engineering history on Friday 11 December 2009, when the company became the first to pull a propeller shaft of a general cargo vessel while afloat alongside in the port of Walvis Bay.

Due to unknown reasons at this time the bearings,  in the main engine started running hot while en route from Matadi, which was the vessels previous port of call. The owners approached Dormac Walvis Bay to try correct  the problems that the vessel was experiencing. The solution was to do the work in Walvis Bay instead of using the only other alternative which would have been a costly towing exercise to get the vessel to the dry dock in Cape Town. The company became the first to pull a propeller shaft of a general cargo vessel while afloat alongside in the port of Walvis Bay.

The tail shaft has a diameter of approximately  600mm with a mass of approximately 13 tons. The intermediate shaft between the engine and tail shaft was first removed inside the vessel and then rigged out of the way. The 15 ton propeller was removed from the end of the tail shaft and rigged ashore. The tail shaft was then rigged into the vessel and blanking plates were fitted onto the outside and inside of the stern tube to prevent ingress of water into the engine room. The vessel was then towed to the anchorage where the old stern shaft bearings will be removed. The whole assembly will be measured and new bearings ordered according to these sizes. Once the new bearings have been fitted the vessel will be brought back alongside to refit the shafting and propeller. The vessel is too big to be taken out of the water on either the synchrolift or any of the local floating docks.

With Namport's permission, Dormac conducted the work by flooding the vessel's forward ballast tanks, thereby lifting the vessel's stern partially clear from the water.  With the stern lifted clear from the water, the vessels propeller could be taken off, so that the shaft could be pulled into the engine room. When the shaft was pulled, technicians could reach the two main bearings keeping this shaft in place. Due to additional preparation on the shaft and the delivery time of the new bearings, the work will be  completed during January 2010.

DORMAC SALDANA BAY - SHIP REPAIRS
The Dormac Saldanha branch has experienced a very busy last quarter on the ship repair side at the Port of Saldanha .  The team attended to 14 vessels with the scope of work required ranging from crane repairs, motor rewinds, steel repairs and main engine repairs to name a few.

The MV Atlas arrived with major hydraulic problems on all 4 of the ship’s cargo cranes therefore making the loading of cargo impossible.  The Dormac team completed their faultfinding and it was determined that the scope of work required was a full service of all hydraulic pumps and motors with some of the pumps and motors having to be replaced in order to get the cranes in full working order.

MV Allina 2 arrived with defective lock down arrangements on nine of the cargo hatches.  Dormac had a team of 15 fitters onboard at anchorage for 5 days servicing and repairing all c-hooks,  including cleat arrangements and the overseeing of the manufacturing and replacements of 35 hydraulic cylinders.  It became evident at a later stage that the vessel had a transverse crack in the deep ballast tank number  4 of about 4m x 150mm.  The most feasible means identified to repair this was to design and build a cofferdam.  The operation was eventually terminated due to the inherent risk and safety issues surrounding the actual integrity of the hull to accommodate a cofferdam.  The vessel is currently still in port awaiting towing instructions thus causing delays on the cargo berth.

The MV Channel Navigator required various steel repairs to defective welding in cargo holds number  4 and number  5 respectively.   These works were carried out at anchorage.

We have had a number of vessels calling lately with similar repairs required to the cargo holds. These repairs are all being completed at various anchorages in the bay.  Dormac Saldanha Bay has started to specialize in these anchorage type repairs.  The site establishment now takes approx 5hrs with a maximum capacity of up to 10 ton steel inserts if required.   Weight and size of steelworks obviously dependant of the onboard cranes and launch capacity.

The refit of Tug Meew and ML Sysie has further added to the successful repertoire of the Dormac Saldanha office.  Keep the flag flying high Steve and the gang.   

INDUSTRIAL
The Industrial division of Dormac Saldanha has been busy with the fabrication of the new bucket scoops and refurbishing of the 3 off stacker declaimers for the National Ports Authority : Iron Ore Loading- Construct 5.  The Refurbishing train ore truck positional arm at truck tippler off loading bay was also completed.

Weekly call outs for running repairs on ore loading equipment are also a very regular occurrence.  This has afforded the Industrial division the opportunity to learn and understand the dynamics of their equipment.  This will undoubtedly assist in building and developing a good business relationship with the terminal.

We have had the first requests from Exxarro, a mining company that specializes in mining of coal, mineral sands, base metals and industrial minerals, for quotations on various equipments including the construction and supply of cooling towers and major modifications to the oven tapping floor.  This could mark the start of a lucrative and successful partnership for both organizations.

DORMAC RICHARDS BAY - SHIP REPAIRS
The Richards Bay team has had a busy year in terms of ship repair and service delivery.
The two major shipping projects that took place over the last few months , have been MV Atlas (Ex Mv Sara V )and Petrobras 10 000.

The MV Atlas ( ex MV Sara V ) required the fabrication and installation of a new air-con as well the overhauling of the vessel’s port and starboard side windlass motors. The MV Petrobras 10 000 is a newly designed drilling rig built in South Korea by Samsung Heavy Industries for owners P&M Drilling International .  The drilling rig has an LOA of 228m , beam of 48m . The vessel is outfitted with 199 crew cabins and has a drilling depth of 11 429 metres.

On its maiden voyage to the port of Richards Bay, the Dormac team was required to assist with the  fabrication of fender hooks.

HUMAN RESOURCES - TRAINING
ECR TOY STORY

Carmen Joseph, personal assistant to the CEO Chris Sparg, took the initiative to get the Dormac Durban staff to assist with donating toys to the East Coast Radio Toy Story.  A clearly marked box was placed in the Dormac Durban reception area and toys were donated by the staff to the value of R 320.00 for the charity.

A local radio station in Kwa Zulu Natal, East Coast Radio, started an initiative called “Toy Story” which started in 2004. East Coast Radio's Toy Story broke away from the large Christmas party format, where underprivileged children were invited to a short-lived respite from their daily living conditions to join in a Christmas party.  East Coast Radio’s new strategy included the distribution of food parcel to child-headed households in KZN. This provided families who have been affected by HIV/AIDS with two meals a day for 4-6 weeks. In conjunction with this new toys were also distributed to these households and to all KZN government hospitals.

In 2004 East Coast Radio's Toy Story set the tone by delivering 6000 food parcels and 8000 toys. In 2005 a phenomenal 8000 food parcels and 70 000 NEW toys were delivered throughout KZN. The numbers have grown steadily since then and we are proud to be a contributor to this worthy cause.  The Toy Story campaign begins in October and runs into December.  Every year, East Coast Radio runs Toy Story to help make a difference. The success of this campaign, however, is largely dependent on the support of the community.
Dormac Durban will extend the challenge to all our other branches for next year to collect toys and send them to Dormac Durban so that we can collectively contribute to this good cause. 

Watch the mail for details as we will send reminders in before October 2010.

KPMG RELAY

The start of November marked the lead up to the KPMG Corporate Business Relay which was held on the 15th November 2009.  The relay event is an annual event hosted by KPMG starting next to the ABSA stadium in Durban. The route takes runners / walkers along NMR Avenue until they reach a point just before town and then back totaling a distance of 5 km.  The event allows for running and walking teams to participate. This year Dormac entered 10 teams made up of fitness enthusiasts, professional runners, as well as those entered for the fun of the race.

The weather held up beautifully, with a slight drizzle as the last of the runners returned. Three of our teams made it back before cut off time – a bit disappointing – but hey, better luck next year! Thanks to all staff that assisted in setting up and coordinating the event from a Dormac perspective.  Dormac Durban challenges all other branches to take part in events similar to these in each respective province.

YEAR END FUNCTION - DORMAC DURBAN

The Dormac Durban Christmas function was held at the front parking area of the Durban office this year.  A marquee was erected in front of the offices and all staff where treated to a buffet style lunch.  A great time was had by all with the entertainment being presented by a live band, Afritude. The band had a variety of surprise “guest lead singers” who seemed to nominate themselves to sing a variety of hits ranging from Tina Turner’s ”Simply the Best” to UB40’s “Red Red Wine”.

The singers definitely had the enthusiasm to pull off these hit songs ,however, let us just say that some of these performers should continue to develop their talents as a professional shower singers only! 

DONATIONS MADE BY DORMAC OVER THE FESTIVE SEASON

1. ST MARY'S HOSPITAL

St Mary’s Hospital is a 200-bed, level one district hospital, situated on the outskirts of Durban, in the Mariannhill Mission Complex.

The Hospital is one of the two remaining Catholic Mission Hospitals in South Africa and the only one that functions in the public health arena.

More than 750 000 people living in the Inner and Outer West Operational Areas of the Durban Metropolitan area rely on St Mary’s Hospital for medical care. The following statistics indicate the numbers of people from the community that we support:

On an annual basis:

• 15 000 people receive inpatient treatment in the Hospital;
• In excess of 64 000 people visit the outpatient clinics;
• 6 000 babies come into the world via the Hospital’s Midwife Obstetric Unit;
• 4 000 children are treated in the 45-bed Children’s ward.

Most of the patients are not on medical aid and are financially unable to make more than a token payment, if anything at all.

2. BOYS & GIRLS TOWN (Formerly known as Boy's Town)

In 1958 Magaliesburg saw the first Boys Town residential home established – borne out of the compassion, altruism and social consciousness of its founders. Initially it provided a home for nine youngsters from a local children’s home who had been destined for a so-called trade school. These boys were soon joined by 17 others from children’s homes throughout the country and, since then, the organisation has continued to expand exponentially over the next 50 years – including focusing on work with girls in more recent years.

3. SAINT PHILOMINA’S CHILDREN’S HOME

St. Philomena's Children's home is a non-profit organization established in 1895 at St. Augustine's Hospital in Durban, South Africa.  They have a cherished and proud history of serving the communities children, both boys and girls, for over a century.

Today all children placed in their care have come to them through the courts and are seen as children in need of intensive care, under the Child Care Act of 1973. Through the years, over 5000 children have passed through their doors, many becoming professionals in various fields and responsible members of the community.

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