Kongsberg Maritime refits go from strength to strength

Kongsberg Maritime's existing vessels/refit department has reported an excellent start of 2004. Leading this news is the completion of an ongoing refit project initiated in 1997, involving 14 Royal Norwegian Navy Hauk Class MTBs.

The initial refit contract was for the supply and installation of Kongsberg Maritime's DC 2000 alarm and engine control system. As the project developed, Kongsberg Maritime continued to research new technology in parallel and the final specification on all 14 MTBs has become the DataChief C20 alarm, engine control and manoeuvring system.

Kongsberg Maritime Sweden AB has alo retrofitted a DataChief C20 system with WatchCall, Deadman and Power Management System (PMS), onboard the 'Stena Germanica'. The vessel docked at the 'Cityvarvet' yard in Gothenburg on January 19th 2004 and the refit operation, which included the exchange of over 1000 I/O modules was completed before the vessel put to sea on February 6th 2004.

Color Line's M/S Kronprins Harald has also benefited from the recent installation of a DataChief C20 system. The vessel was already utilising Kongsberg DataChief 7 alarm control and monitoring but the C20, with approximately 2500 I/Os adds an extra operator station and a generator protection system to the power management, valve control, pump control and alarm system funtionality. The ship docked on 26th January 2004 and a team of nine electricians and 3 commissioning engineers completed the installation in two weeks.

In other refit news, Kongsberg Maritime has reported the successful completion of an automation systems refit onboard the 20,000 ton passenger/car ferry the M/S Jupiter. The refit consisted of a new AutoChief 7 propulsion control system interfaced to the existing DataChief C20 machinery automation system, a Maritime Black Box (MBB) voyage data recorder (VDR) and a safety system for the four main engines.

M/S Jupiter was the first vessel to install Kongsberg Maritime's DataChief C20 system five years ago. The new system was installed in just seven days and included over 1400 interfaces for the DataChief and 300 interfaces and complex software for the AutoChief 7. The MBB is interfaced to the Radars, GPS, gyro, speed log, four microphones and the VHF systems.

"The major reasons for our success in the refit business are that our automation products are well suited for refit installations and a staff of dedicated experts in refit projects execution," says Morten Hasås, Vice President, Marine Automation Division, Kongsberg Maritime.

For further information, please contact: Rita Krathe Kongsberg Maritime Tel: ( 47) 33032329  www.kongsberg.com  Saul Trewern Saltwater Communications Tel: 44 (0)1202 669244