Houlder has a wealth of experience to share gained through project management during cruise vessel refits and equipment upgrade projects.

Houlder was contracted by Carnival UK, for example. to provide technical and project management expertise during the refit of their 90,000t, £270M MS Queen Victoria (Cunard) Cruise Vessel. The Queen Victoria is a hybrid design between the Vista Class of Holland America and the Spirit Class of Carnival. The ship has a passenger capacity of 2,014 with 1,001 crew and 1,007. The primary purpose of the 2017 refit was to install a new aft block of 45 cabins and 9 suites, weighing a total of 230 tonnes.  This addition also led to a newly re-designed aft lido pool area, reduced aft-facing balconies for better passenger privacy, a new Britannia Club restaurant, an updated Chartroom and refreshed Winter Garden and Yacht Club.

Houlder provided suitably qualified and experienced Naval Architecture and Electrical Engineering personnel to work onsite at the Palermo Shipyard, Sicily. During the 30-day refit they worked alongside the client’s senior refit team.  They provided project management during the cruise vessel refit including the integration of the new block on their behalf.

Their tasks included;

• Inspections and Testing of new marine systems in the Aft Block
• Providing Client Representation
• Verification of Electrical system
• Steelwork Modifications
• Producing Project Management Reports
• Updates to Statutory Drawings
• Liaising with Flag and Class to ensure regulatory compliance

This is the latest in a series of projects providing project management during cruise vessel refits. Later in 2017, Houlder was contracted by P&O Cruises to project manage the replacement of one of their internal treatment plants onboard the MV Arcadia. The work was done while the vessel remained in service. Houlder provided a Project Manager to join the vessel for three months to co-ordinate the de-commissioning and removal of the old equipment and the installation of the new system.

The role required coordinating the contractors and ship’s staff with shoreside logistics to ensure that waste and deliveries were offloaded/loaded at the correct time and minimising the impact on ship operations. Houlder’s project manager was responsible for preventing specification creep, providing pragmatic engineering solutions and planning alterations to the design to overcome technical challenges which arose during the works.

When the Arcadia (pictured) went in for her 5-year SPS in November 2017, in Hamburg Germany, Houlder was contracted by Carnival UK to provide two Naval Architects and one Electrical Engineer to work as part of the project management team. The Houlder team provided technical expertise and project oversight throughout the refit period.

You can read more on our Cruise and Ferry Website here.