Dormac Receive Safety Award
The completion of the project on the MV Deep Constructor has brought many accolades to the Dormac Team, including a safety incentive bonus of R141 000.00 awarded to Dormac staff by owners, Technip.

This award was given to Dormac on the condition that it went towards a local charity or needy institution, and the decision was made to support the Carte Blance ‘Making a Difference Campaign’. Dormac have supported this amount with a further R150 000.00 and will be making a total contribution of R291 000.00 in conjunction with Technip to the paediatric facility at King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban.

Seen above (2nd from right) is Mr Harry Jarvis, Technip Project & Technical Manager, congratulating Dormac’s Senior Project Manager, Mr Stephen Murray on the award of R141 000.00 for Dormac’s excellent safety record during the project. With them is Dormac’s Safety Superintendent Mr Selvan Naicker (left) and Technip’s Vessel Superintendent Mr Gary Milne (right).

At the contract kick off meeting, Technip reinforced their expectations for a high standard of HSE performance during the project and Dormac reiterated their commitment to achieve this. To that end Dormac implemented a comprehensive induction process for all personnel involved in the project (1829 people) and this was personally delivered by Dormac's HR Manager. This set the scene for the execution of the work scope as personnel could not commence work until the inductions had been completed.

The work scope amongst other things included the fabrication and fitment of a 35 Ton, 16 man accommodation unit, the conversion of internal ballast tanks to smaller tanks and the enlargement of an internal deck hatch opening. Mechanical works were carried out on all propulsion units (7 off) as well as bush renewals on the rudder horn. Major pipe work was also carried out and a vast amount of joinery work was carried out by the Technip contractors and Dormac.

The vessel was in Dormac’s yard for a total of 72 days in which the vessel was dry-docked with a full blasting and coating program with the addition of internal tanks being blasted and coated in the same time period.

The following statement was received by Mr John Greensmyth HSES Manager – OOS, in conclusion of the project.

‘The project was completed without any lost time or high potential incidents involving Dormac personnel or their sub-contractors. This is a significant achievement and a testimony to Dormac's commitment at company and at a personal level. Technip will depart Dormac's facility having successfully undertaken a safe docking and the legacy of the systems put in place to realise that result will be adopted by Dormac on future projects and in that sense Technip wishes Dormac every success with that goal’.

New Build Projects Underway
Dormac have been awarded the contract by Smit Amandla Marine to double hull their Bunker Barge the Smit Bongani. Dormac are well into the procurement phase and cutting will begin in the new year. The format of the double hulling project will follow the successful project undertaken on the Smit Energy. Pre fabrication will commence on the Dormac grillage towards the end of the first quarter of 2009 and the Smit Bongani’s double skin will consist of 222 tons, with delivery expected in July 2009.

In addition, the Dormac New Build Division is well underway with the construction of Hull 109 for South African Client, UNICAL headed up by Unicorn Shipping and Calulo. Commencement on the construction of the Bunker Barge began back in April and delivery date is expected to be May 2009. Once commissioned, Hull 109 will undertake active duty in the Port of Durban supplying bunkers to visiting vessels.

Stern Tube Cofferdam
Dormac made history last month when they successfully used a flexible stern seal bag to replace the stern seals of the Max Line Vessel “Blue Master”. This type of operation has never before been attempted by South Africans on the African continent.

Whilst loading cargo in the Port of Richards Bay, the Diving team of Dormac commissioned and assembled the bag in order that the replacement of the stern seals can be affected by the stern seal technician. This kind of operation is usually conducted in a Dry Dock facility due to the sensitive nature of the operation and the risks involved.

The use of this device has not only saved the shipping company money in docking fees, but also valuable time as it was able to continue loading cargo in conjunction with the repairs which took just 4 days.

Ship Repairs – MV Swift Secure
The MV Swift Secure called on the Port of Durban and required the services of Dormac for a range of afloat repairs. The vessel required various steel repairs and Dormac renewed 20 tons to the top side tanks and no. 5 Cargo Hold as well as fabricating a new 12m steel gangway for the vessel in the Dormac Machine Shop.

Other repairs undertaken below deck involved the removal of the no. 3 auxiliary engine block & bed plate which will be refitted on her next call to Durban. In addition, repairs to the engine room crane and the repair & refitment of a damaged fire pump were also undertaken.

SubTech Barge – Aegir 30
Dormac were recently contracted by local Client Subtech, to carry out general maintenance and upgrades on their Barge Aegir 30.
The Barge spent 13 days in the Durban Graving Dock where Dormac carried out 13 tons of steel renewals and removed 35 tons of concrete from her tanks.

MV Pacific Amethyst
The MV Pacific Amethyst has recently been alongside the Dormac Repair Quay and now occupies the Floating Dock. Dormac attended to the vessel in Mauritius where the owners were encouraged to bring her to Dormac to complete the repairs. Once docked, repairs were undertaken on her Intermediate Shaft Alignment as well as reinstating her Z Peller Propulsion Unit which was rebuilt in the Dormac Machine Shop with the aid of their makers men.

Dormac - Cape Town
Dormac Cape Town recently attended to Naval vessels from both the United Kingdom and Germany while berthing in the Port of Cape Town over the last few months and Dormac were requested to attend to numerous afloat repairs to the vessels whilst in Port.

In addition, numerous other repairs have been undertaken on the: MV Tailsmen: Dormac Cape Town were recently contacted by the owners of the vessel, advising them that their vessel would call into Cape Town requiring a steel grillage to be fitted to the vessels deck as she was due to collect a Jack up Rig from the West Coast of Africa.

Drawings for the fabrication of the grillage were forwarded to Dormac Cape Town and a quotation submitted. The contract was awarded to Dormac and the deadline for the completion of fabrication and installation was set.

90 Tons of grillage was fabricated, transported to the vessel, layed out on deck and welded. Two extension guide posts were manufactured, fitted and welded to the two guide posts, 12 strong boxes fabricated, transported to the vessel and fitted and two deck recesses 5m x 5m cut out, both recesses were welded up with inserts and made watertight.

Approximately 120 Tons of steel was fabricated and fitted onboard the vessel. Completion date was met which included Classification Society inspection and approval.

Rig Richardson: Is another successful project currently being undertaken by Dormac - Cape Town onboard the Rig in Walvis Bay. The contract was awarded to Dormac by the Offshore Rig Company Trans Ocean, and has involved a riding squad undertaking pipe fitting, welding and mechanical work onboard. With up to 30 Dormac artisans carrying out the work scope, the 6 week project should be completed around the 18th November.

Dump Barge: Dormac Cape Town were recently contracted to build four 20 ton Dumb Barges for Rig Owners, Saipem.

The barges, with interlocking mechanisms, were manufactured in the Dormac yard for the Rig Scarabeo 7, to act as a buffer when alongside the quay, and were completed to the customer’s specifications within 4 weeks.

M/V Ocean Queen: The fully laden bulker was on her passage to the Far East when approximately 40 nortical miles off Cape Point, the crew noticed ingress of sea water from the Starboard side shell plate and in the No.1 cargo hold.

Dormac were contacted by the owners and our Project Manager was flown by helicopter to the vessel in order to offer the owners a repair solution.

Once the vessel arrived and anchored in False Bay and the adverse weather conditions had subsided, a Cofferdam was positioned over the crack with the aid of divers and pumped dry. The crack was arrested, welded up and as per the owners instruction, a temporary doubler plate was fitted over the crack.

The Drill Rig - Frontier Duchess berthed in the Port of Cape Town for a few remedial repairs. After inspections by the vessels operators were completed, the scope of work changed dramatically and Dormac was selected as the main contractor and numerous repairs were undertaken on the steel beams and included the change out of thousands of nuts and bolts, mud valves cleaned and pressure tested, pipe work renewed, watertight doors and frames fitted, pressure valve manifolds welded and x-rayed, new racking assembled and fitted, electrical, hydraulics and mechanicals were also assigned to Dormac.

RMS St. Helena was again successfully dry docked by Dormac and on schedule. Numerous repairs & maintenance to the vessel were carried out during her lay up.

Dormac - Saldanha Bay
Being the only repairer in Saldanha Bay, Dormac are attending to more and more requests for repairs to vessels calling in the Port.

The M/V Durban Star required steel renewals to hatch cover sanctions and coamings. McGregor hatch cover rubbers were supplied by Dormac – Durban and fitted by Dormac – Saldanha Bay.

Amongst others, Turbo-Chargers, Intercoolers, electrical and hydraulic repairs and main engine work, was carried out by Dormac – Saldanha Bay.

Work on the Transnet Tugs has required that our dedicated team is always on standby and ready to assist when required.

Industrial prospects in Saldanha Bay have increased and Dormac have successfully secured work from Sandvic which will take approximately 3 months to complete.

Dormac Richards Bay
Over the last year, the Shipping Division of Richards Bay has grown, in the sense that work and revenue has increased substantially. Dormac Richards Bay, has done various size ship repairs inclusive of engineering repairs, hydraulic, electrical and diving with the bulk coming from steel renewals. One of the standout jobs was the hull renewal carried out on the MV Grand Spartounta. The quality, workmanship and the time frame of this repair was excellent.

One of our most recent works were the repairs to a grab from the MV DAEBO PIONEER which was extremely distorted in way of the frame work. The grab was rectified inclusive of hydraulics and the unit was built to “AS NEW” status. A further 3 inserts were carried out on one of the vessels Crane Jibs.

The workshop employees at Dormac Richards Bay have recently formed their own soccer team, ‘Team Dormac’, under the curatorship of Divisional Director Mr Theo Reddy and Team Managers Mr John Brown & Mr Eugene Moodley. The team is captained by Jackie Machkoba with Dumsani Ntuli as the vice captain, and as yet remain undefeated after games against Tata Steel, NAT Africa, Express United, Land Marine and Wasteman.

New Appointments
Dormac would like to congratulate the following people on their recent appointments and welcome them to the Dormac Team.

Welcome aboard!

Raj Rajah - Receiving Stores Supervisor - Durban
Abdullah Johnson - Ship Repair Foreman - Cape Town
Ernest Rayner - Ship Repair Foreman - Cape Town
Linda Mabaso - Estimator - Richards Bay

Dormac Durban would also like to extend our congratulations to Donavan Meredith who was recently promoted from Chargehand to Foreman.

Dormac Learnership Programme
In May this year, Dormac agreed to offer Sasol trainees the opportunity to gain work experience in the Marine Engineering Industry. A total of 120 learners were placed at Dormac under a full training schedule that was put into place to ensure that the learners were given full exposure to the various departments at Dormac. They spent a total of 6 months at our site, working under supervision at all times and they were sad to leave at the end of their training programme.

It was decided by our Financial Director Mr Craig Samuels that the learners should be given a farewell as they had become part of the Dormac team in a short space of time and had added value in many aspects. A farewell braai was arranged for the learners which was a great success, where Mr Samuels and other Dormac staff addressed the learners and spent time with them at the braai. The learners really appreciated what Dormac had to offer them and we are happy to have assisted them in their career preparations.

Dormac Project Manager Lands A Big One

Dormac Project Manager Steven Rouillon recently made headlines with a near record catch of a 244kg Spotted Ragged Tooth Shark, just 9kg off the SA Record.

Steven was fishing down at Intonga Bay – Transkei, South of Port St Johns in the KZN Mens Club League Poastal Round. It took him 1hr 45mins using medium gear to land the beast and after a few quick pictures  it was released back into the water.

KPMG Business Relay
Dormac entered 6 teams in the annual KPMG Business Relay where 30 employees had to run 5km each in teams of 5. Despite the distance & heat, the teams had a great time and thoroughly deserved a few cold drinks and their medal after the race.

Dormac Team Building Weekend
Over the same weekend as the KPMG Relay, a number of ‘non runners’ set off to tackle the mighty Jozini Dam in the hope of catching a big Tiger Fish. The eager fishermen descended upon the quiet Umziki Chalet Camp on the North Coast and enjoyed a weekend of sun & fishing on one of South Africa’s biggest dams.

The biggest catch of the weekend went to ‘rookie’ fisherman Wayne Green who pulled in a 4kg beauty. An excellent weekend was had by all and our thanks are extended to the Dormac management team for sanctioning such a trip and especially to Quinton Smart for all his efforts and excellent planning of a memorable weekend.

Year End Client Function
Dormac recently held its end of year client evening in the yard in Durban. The ‘Arabian Nights’ evening was well supported by in excess of 600 people who thoroughly enjoyed the evening of belly & fire dancers, pythons and fine cuisine. The evening was an opportunity to thank our clients for their support and contribution to the success of Dormac over the past year and we thank those who joined us on the evening that made it such a memorable occasion.

Our sincere thanks and gratitude are extended to BOSSS Marine for supplying taxi’s to those who may have slightly over indulged during the evening.

Dormac "ship shape" calendar
To receive the free Dormac Calendar delivered straight to your email address every month, simply register on our web site at www.dormac.net, under "calendar" on the home page.