Tanker Seychelles Paradise returns from second dry-dock in Colombo |06 September 2017

The tanker Seychelles Paradise returned to Port Victoria on Tuesday this week, following a 10-day dry dock period in Colombo, Sri Lanka for its second intermediate class docking after eight years in service as required by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) standards and the Seychelles Maritime Safety Administration (SMSA) requirements.

Seychelles Paradise left Seychelles for Colombo, Sri Lanka on August 5 with 12 crew members onboard. She arrived in Colombo on August 14 and entered the dock three days later.

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

She completed the in-dock works on August 27 and departed Sri Lanka on August 28, arriving back in Port Victoria on September 5 after eight days of sailing.

The purpose of the second Intermediate class docking with bottom survey is to ensure that as per class rules, the vessel is certified fit to sail and trade internationally otherwise the vessel will not be able to offer services for oil cargo deliveries as stipulated under the Shipping Act of Seychelles, administered by SMSA.

According to the Seychelles Petroleum Company’s (Seypec) crew manager, Allain Asba, who is also responsible for the operations of MT Seychelles Paradise, preparations for the tanker’s second intermediate class 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, namely Durban (South Africa), Port Louis (Mauritius), Diego Suarez (Madagascar), Dubai (UAE) and Colombo Dockyard in Sri Lanka was selected based on its proximity, its quality of service as well as past experience for the first MT Seychelles Paradise dry-dock works.

It is to be noted that the dry-docking was being supervised by German Tanker Shipping which is also responsible for the technical oversight of the vessel. MT Seychelles Paradise crew have also been instrumental in assisting with the works 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 month as well as promoting the sale of bunker both within port vicinities and at offshore level in the Indian Ocean region if deemed necessary.

The next scheduled dry docking is the “10 years in operation class renewal docking” scheduled in August 2019.