Seychelles Paradise returns from dry dock in Colombo |03 September 2014

Seychelles’ tanker Paradise has returned to Port Victoria following a 10-day dry dock period in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

This is its fifth year class renewal survey as required by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) standards and the Seychelles Maritime Safety Administration (SMSA) requirements.

Paradise left Seychelles for Colombo, Sri Lanka on July 25, 2014 with an 11 crew team. She arrived in Colombo on August 3 and entered the dock two days later.

She went through strict class inspections, engines and equipment overhauls, namely for valves, machineries, the main engines, the generators and all other equipment on board as well as a complete repainting of the vessel.

Paradise now boasts a newly painted black hull structure identical to the rest of the Seychelles Petroleum Company’s (Seypec) fleet of tankers.

She completed the in-dock works on August 15 and departed Sri Lanka on the August 18, arriving back in Port Victoria on August 26 after eight days of sailing.

The purpose of the five-year renewal survey is to ensure that as per class rules, the vessel is certified fit to sail and trade, otherwise the vessel will not be able to offer services for oil cargo deliveries, it will not be insured and will thus lose the inspections and survey scheduling programming of the classification society.

which also plays a very important role in the general upkeeping of the vessel.

According to Seypec’s shipping and crewing manager Pierre Prosper, preparations for Seychelles Paradise’s first dry dock began early this year based on requirements and the various work submitted, to be completed during the dry dock. This was followed by the assessment of the selected dockyards in the region and Colombo dockyard in Sri Lanka was selected based on its proximity, its quality of service, its past experience with similar vessel types and its ability to complete and deliver quality work in a timely manner.

An agent, CEYLINE Ltd, was also appointed to coordinate logistics in Colombo.

It is to be noted that the Paradise crew has also been instrumental in assisting with the work carried out during the dry docking, something which has boosted their experience and knowledge of the vessel.

Seychelles Paradise is now ready to resume its key role in ensuring that Praslin is supplied with its fuel requirements every six weeks as well as promoting the sale of bunker both within port vicinities and at offshore level in the Indian Ocean region.

The vessel’s technical management is currently being done in partnership with German Tanker Shipping GmbH and Seypec’s shipping office, based locally.