The construction of the P-140 project vessel, which the largest one in NIBULON’s fleet and has pride of place among all its achievements, demonstrates not only the new and higher level of the shipyard’s capacities, but also the skills and experience of the shipbuilders, the real workmen, who build the modern Ukrainian fleet.
Presently, the maximum number of shipbuilders is involved in building NIBULON MAX. The employees work several shifts and are performing all types of construction tasks simultaneously. The shipbuilders are actively insulating spaces, laying cables, installing all the necessary outfitting and pipelines, as well as painting. At the same time, the specialists are producing 30-ton hatch covers for two holds. The parts for their moveable joints weigh more than 4 tons.
At the same time, the welders have already welded the Liebherr crane foundations of 12 tons each to the pillars. The tolerance for the mounting flange surface when welding a foundation is a maximum of 0.39 mm. Therefore, KODA (Kharkiv) specialists provided constant geometric control using modern equipment.
“The crane pillar consists of metal rings with a thickness of 50 mm. In order to weld this 50 mm to obtain the required strength, 72 welding seams are required, so a welder must weld around the crane’s pillar (diameter – 3.5 m) 72 times. The total weld length of two pillars is about 10 km. About 10 of the best qualified shipbuilders worked in two shifts to complete this project. The integrity of all welding works was checked by ultrasound. If the smallest defect is found, the welding (72 welding seams) will be started again from the very beginning. The task is very complicated and important”, notes Volodymyr Zhmur, the Deputy Director of Production at the shipyard.
The process of boring the joint loops in the hatch covers and the hydraulic cylinder eye-bolts requires absolute accuracy. As it is a large hull structure, it is impossible to place all machines at the correct places. This complicates the process, considering that the bore accuracy must be 0.3 mm. The company’s production engineers had to make a special device in order to perform this process with the highest accuracy, so that the covers will operate correctly. Chornomorskyi Shipbuilding Yard used to operate these types of machines earlier, but no longer does so.