Houlder Naval Architect, Ed Eddy (pictured) and Draughtsperson, Chris Irvine recently completed site works for Carnival UK, delivering another successful cruise vessel refit on their Grand Class vessel, Ventura. MV Ventura, launched in 2008, and her sister ship Azura (2010), are two of Carnival’s larger ships with 30% more capacity than their previous P&O vessels.  At 116,017 tonnes and 291.4 m (956 ft), Ventura can accommodate over 3,100 passengers in 1550 cabins. She is the second largest of the eight ships currently in service.

Houlder’s role during the extensive cruise vessel refit has been to act as a technical adviser and owner’s representative during steel work and mechanical repairs. In total, Houlder project managed over 20 discrete repair/upgrade tasks on board. The team also updated all Class Drawings to reflect changes. This is the latest of the company’s work in the cruise industry. In 2017, Houlder recorded approximately 5,000 hours working on similar projects, for example, including over 250 days onboard.  In that time, multi-disciplinary teams have been deployed on major projects that have included the engineering of ballast water treatment systems; attendance on vessel refits including supervision of major steel-work replacement, various electrical engineering upgrades, project management and flag state administration. Work is delivered globally, managed from our bases in London and Portsmouth.

Ben Myers, Houlder Project Director, commented “Work in the cruise vessel refit sector has taken us to destinations such as Hong Kong, Dubai, the Caribbean Islands, Miami, Italy, USA & Canada. We have worked both in shipyards and whilst vessels are in service.”

As well as Carnival UK, Houlder has worked with Princess Cruises & Holland America Group to keep their vessels operational. Ben concludes “Houlder’s ability to respond quickly and flexibly to cruise operator’s technical and operational requirements has been a key feature of our success.”