M/V Africa Mercy Shipyard Report -2019 The MV Africa Mercy arrived at the Las Palmas ASTICAN ship yard on the 16th morning of June, 2019, from , after a long 9 month field service.

Soon after our arrival the Ship’s Technical crew unloaded 19 Containers, 25 Vehicles, and 3 Fork lifts to the dock in preparation for the ship’s dry docking via a synchro lift. This is a special arrangement with 36 winches in each side of the dock, and very few ship yards around the world have this type of system. A Ship’s weight must be under 10000 Tons in order for the Synchro lift to raise the ship on to the dry dock, and then Locomotive wheels and 5 big bulldozers were utilized to move the vessel into place. This time the AFM weighed in at 9900 tons as per the ASTICAN Ship yard in Las Palmas.

Electric Winches are on both sides of the dock Bulldozers are pulling the ship Hull cleaning, removal of Rudders and Propellers started once the ship was on the dry dock.

Removal of Rudders Removal of Propellers

Propeller shaft MP testing with the LR surveyor Propeller hub overhaul Our propellers were serviced by Service Engineers from MAN Company of . Apart from the propellers, Man engineers overhauled the Stbd. Servo-Piston with Astican shipyard workers. This is a unit that helps to move the propeller blades to a desired pitch (Angle).

The ship’s steering Gear System was completely renewed, and this was the biggest single project during this ship yard period. Astican shipyard Project Manager Oscar Marina stated that he has done only 3 complete renewals including the AFM over his 17 year career. Mercy Ship’s Technical Director Ciaran Holden worked with all the relevant companies in Germany (Loewe Marine), Denmark (Hans Bush) and Canada (Jetstram), leading up to the installation, when Alphonse Abraham-Mercy Ship’s Technical Officer, executed the job with the relevant companies and shipyard assistance.

Port Rudder stock assembly in to the ship checking the surface contacts on Stbd. Rudder

Electrical Contractors Hans Bush laid 7.5 KM (4.66 Miles) of cables from the Deck 2 aft area of Cargo Hold, to the Bridge on Deck 7 which connected the system to the Bridge controls. It took 36 days to complete the steering Gear work in the underwater area of the hull, and another 7 days to complete the rest of the work leading up to the final Harbor acceptance test with the Lloyds Surveyor. The crew took no days off during this project period, except one half Sunday due to the insistence of the Astican shipyard that their workers were tired and needed a rest. Fully functional tests were performed during the Sea Trials on the 2nd of August, 2019 during the sail to Tenerife. The Lloyds Surveyor was satisfied with all the tests.

Testing of Rudders for the first time after assembly - Hard Port to Hard Stbd. (24th July, 2019). See the polished propellers behind them. All 4 Main Engine Clutches were completely overhauled by a Flender Service Engineer from Holland. Each Clutch was removed and transported to a local workshop for the overhauls. The clutch’s weight are just below 2 tons each, as per the Flender Service Engineer.

Main Engine 1 & 2 –Clutch Removal Inspection of Overhauling of Clutches The Number One Auxiliary Engine and all Four Auxiliary Engines Turbochargers were overhauled by the MAN Primserve Company in Las Palmas. In addition the Vibration dampers for the engine foundations were renewed on Engine’s 1, 2 and 3. The auxiliary engines sea water cooling system was completely renewed with new Plastic Piping in the aft auxiliary engine room. This work was carried out by the German company Fiberdur, with the help of volunteer Chief Engineer Neil Steel of Scotland, and the Astican Shipyard. This system will increase cooling capacity along with decreasing the heavy maintenance burden during field service periods by completely eliminating corrosion and erosion of the cooling system pipes.

Auxiliary Engine Number 1 Overhaul Fiberdur Plastic Piping Project Due to the 5 year LR survey, a complete Hull and Tank thickness survey was carried out by a Greek Company hired by Astican Shipyard to ascertain the integrity of the Hull and tank plating. There were 64 tanks on survey this time as per the Lloyds Register work list.

Unplanned Extensive steel work had to be carried out due to the findings of the survey. This required 2200 m² of (23680.6 Ft²) of steel plate to be replaced in nine tanks and various areas of the ship. Vice president of Marine Operations Jim Paterson has helped to get dispensation (Condition of Class) for ballast tanks 11-1 and 11-2 from Lloyds register for up to 2 years. This would otherwise have delayed the ship departure and cost an extensive amount of money. Normally Lloyds approves only up to a 6 month period for these types of repairs per the attending Lloyds surveyor. Instead temporary repairs were carried out over 18 days in the above mentioned tanks.

Stbd side Hull steel work – Tank 9-6 Deck 7 Stbd aft –Above Academy Office

Funnel steel work underway

The Ship’s forward Mast foundation repair was completed by the Astican shipyard. First by removing the corroded bolts and nuts, and later inserting proper Bolts and Nuts along with teflon bushings and washers. This is to avoid corrosion of two dissimiler metals, which are the foundation of steel, and the mast of aluminum.

The Ship’s Main Crane and the Stores Crane were repaired by an outside company hired by the Astican Ship yard. Both cranes are functioning satisfactorily as per the ship’s Captain Djurre Jan Schutte, and the Chief Officer Geert Smilde. It took around 7 days to complete the work.

Inspection of ongoing repairs by the Captain, Chief Officer and the Technical Officer The Crew Galley in Deck 6 aft was completely renewed by a PRMS company from Greece after the project team lead by Keith Topliffe performed the initial preparations, and the electrical System was renewed by Stefan, a volunteer from Germany.

Crew Galley –Stripped to the bare metal Testing the newly installed ovens Flooring was replaced in 23 cabins totaling 326 m² (3509.03 ft²). This was done by an outside company in Las Palmas under the supervision of Keith Topliffe – Project leader, and his team. The Engine Room Switch Board Room in Deck 2 also received new flooring.

Cabin Flooring Laying of Switch Board Room Flooring Windows were replaced in Deck 4, 5, 6 and 7, including the bridge. Altogether 55 windows from 3 different manufactures from Germany, Poland and Denmark were installed by a company hired by ASTICAN Shipyard from Spain. This Team was led by a young and enthusiastic project team member appointed by Project Team leader Keith Topliffe. The first window to be replaced during this project period was Founders Don and Deyon Stephen’s allocated cabin on Deck 6 Port.

Deck 6 Forward PORT side Cabin window replacements- Former Family cabin of Donavan P.

Bridge Floor Window replacemnts by Project Team members All 25 table tops in the Cafe were refurbish by the veteran Mercy Shipper Larry Mast and his team. They also completed Swimming Pool poles as well.

Master Larry and his team working on table tops Assembling table tops

Deck 4 and Deck 7 AC Fan room motors and fans were cleaned, and the bearings were replaced. Work was performed by a very good Dutch team lead by one of the Ship Superintendent’s in Holland - Leen. Engineers from the shipping Company Stena Lines, were also on this team. (Wearing white overalls)

Leen and His team (Project Team Members) Furniture was replaced in six offices on Decks 3, 6 and 7 by Project team members. This comprised the Screening Team Office, two offices by the Hospital Operating theaters, Hospitality office, the IS manager’s office, and the IS office.

Hospitality Office- Deck 6 Screening Office Deck 3 Our Ship’s Agents, Thierry and Lidia have given their fullest support in getting contractors onboard, and as well as handling all Customs clearances, etc. Both have been a great help to our ship yard work.

Paper work handled by Ship’s agents Ship’s agents Thierry and Lidia. LR Surveyor Jorge Fernandez and Astican Shipyard Project Manager Oscar Marina have been a great help to our shipyard work onboard. They have been instrumental of getting the surveys and ship yard work finished almost on time.

Project team leader Keith Topliffe was very organized and executed all jobs very efficiently and on time. He is a great addition to the shipyard team this year. He handled 46 Planned and 15 unplanned jobs very effectively.

Captain, Chief Engineer, Chief Officer and the entire Technical Crew has given all. Our Chief Engineer made a comment to someone onboard- “That he has never worked that hard in his working life” Mick Dunne (Regular Second Engineer) has completed all of the engine room pump work (34) , which was due for survey before the ship yard, and made available the reports which the LR Surveyor accepted.

Ally Jones (Acting MD) and Kathy Long (Chief Steward) have been very helpful in all operational areas throughout entire shipyard period. We are very grateful for that.

Our Shipyard team received the fullest support from IS Project leaders Nick Kruger and Jonathan Dyson (IS Infrastructure Development Director) and it was a blessing to work with such unique individuals.

Finally I want to express our gratitude to the Marine Operations Procurement team Dean Newell (Procurement Manager), Charles Dodgen and Sherry Carpenito. They have organized and made sure that we have all the spares to do the shipyard work.

LR Surveyor and Astican Project Manager Project Team Leader Keith and Captain There were 64 planned ship yard work specifications, and another 35 unplanned procedures were added to the list during the ship yard time. There were also 61 Project Work Orders, and all Lifesaving and Fire Fighting equipment was inspected with certificates issued by relevant authorities. There were 194 LR surveys due for July 2019. Except for very few, all the tasks have been completed during this ship yard time. This includes LR 5 year surveys too. Our Passenger Ship Safety Certificate has been issued with a limitation until the completion of the very minor Steering Gear alarm interface in the VDR, which was an oversight of the installation company during the design phase of the steering Gear. Jetstram Company is working on the matter and it will be completed in September. All other relevant certificates are up to date and onboard. The Flag State Inspector from was onboard here in TENERIFE and the Captain informed that he was satisfied with the vessel inspection.

Number of weeks allocated for the ship yard work: 6 weeks

Dry Docking date: 20th June 2019 Undocking date: 25th July 2019 (3 days delay) Sea Trails on the 02nd August to test the Steering gear system. (As planned before the shipyard) Depart Tenerife for Dakar: 10th August 2019 (As planned before the ship yard) Thank you to all of you who have given your time and support during this ship yard work phase. May the Good Lord be with you all always. ISAIAH 40:31 KING JAMES VERSION (KJV)

31 BUT THEY THAT WAIT UPON THE LORD SHALL RENEW THEIR STRENGTH; THEY SHALL MOUNT UP WITH WINGS AS EAGLES; THEY SHALL RUN, AND NOT BE WEARY; AND THEY SHALL WALK, AND NOT FAINT.