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Dry Dock, Types of Dry Docks &

Requirements for Dry Dock

By Anish | In: Guidelines | Last Updated on July 23, 2016

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Dry dock is a structured area wherein construction, repairs and maintenance of merchant vessels and
boats are carried out. The unique construction allows the water to be filled up in that area, also known
as lock, so that vessels can be maneuvered in and out of the area. Once the vessel enters the dry dock,
the gates are closed and the seawater is drained out so that hull and other areas of the ship which have
been exposed to sea water for a long time are available for carrying out maintenance and repair works.

As per SOLAS requirement all Merchant vessels requires a complete inspection of hull in a dry dock
twice within 5 year period and the intermediate survey must not be more than 36 months. This includes
maintenance of hull, propeller, rudder etc. and other parts which are immersed in water and are
normally inaccessible by ship staff at normal sailing period.

For Passenger vessel the inspection of the ship’s bottom is to be done annually. Two of such inspection
in a period of five year must be carried in dry dock and the maximum interval between these inspections
is 3 years.

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Types of Dry Dock Procedures

There are mainly two types of dry dock procedure:

1) Graving dock:

This type is normally constructed on a land near the coastal water with a rectangular solid concrete
construction with blocks, walls and gates. Vessel is shifted inside the dock and rested in the blocks.
After the ship is in required position, gate is closed and water is removed.

2) Floating dock:

A floating dock is a “U” structure used in salvage, to carry ship, which has met with an accident, from
mid sea and which is damaged and unable to sail further to go to a coastal dock. Several “U” type
floating docks can be joined to carry a large vessel.

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Credits: Jack11 Poland/wikipedia.org

A valve is provided which can be opened to fill up the chambers with water and which will make the dock
immersed in water so that the ship can sail out. The water is pumped out of the chamber which will allow
the dock to rise, exposing the underwater area of the ship for maintenance or carrying the ship to repair
facility.

Three Requirements for Dry Dock

Stability is the most important requirement for getting a ship safely into a dry dock. The three important
parameters which must be ensured before entering the dry dock are:

1) Adequate Initial G.M:

When the ship touches the blocks, there is a reaction at the point of contact which raises the centre of
gravity “G” and reduces the metacentric height “G.M” so that adequate initial metacentric height is
required to compensate the same.

2) Vessel to be Upright:

While entering the dock the vessel needs to be upright which means there should be no port or
starboard list when the ship touches the blocks, the point of contact will be outside the centre line of
vessel, which may force the vessel to tip over.

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The slight trim allows the accenting of stern and bow in tandem rather than simultaneously as it will
reduce the load and pressure on hull and the keel of vessel.

If you liked this article, you may also like to read The Flip ship.

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About Anish
An ardent sailor and a techie, Anish Wankhede has voyaged on a number of ships as a
marine engineer officer. He loves multitasking, networking, and troubleshooting. He is the
one behind the unique creativity and aesthetics at Marine Insight.

Comments

Issah G. Aderinto says

JANUARY 26, 2015 AT 2:45 AM

Dear sir

We have ship repair yard and we are trying to build a graving dock of 121 metres length in to
in 21metres in to in breath
What are the basic standard ofvsafety required and what is the minimum thickness of
concrete walls required finally will a dept of 3.5 mettres be enough to dock a vessel of 8
metres draft. In balance
Thanks in antipation

Clement See says

MARCH 12, 2015 AT 8:02 AM

Hi Issah,

Personal take on building a graving dock should come from a commercial stand point, then
design according to your commercial needs, the soil condition and sea bed conditions of
graving dock location.

Based on the size according to your input, my guess on your target segment are tugboats,
small fishing trawlers and maybe catamaran. Look at your total geographic location and see if
there are expanding business opportunities such as offshore OSV potential, OSV support
base and such. Otherwise it will be costly to rebuild or modify your graving dock again just to
cater for missed opportunities. Similarly there is always a question of cost when how big a
size is enough? The very reason why I feel your commercial requirements rules over what size

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projection.

On the size that you mentioned, seems like this project of yours is very initial stage and you
are currently working on minimum information. Your depth of graving dock should not be
determined by whether you can take certain vessel draft. Instead do your seismic on the sea
bed and understand what are your tide movements. I have seen shipyards building docks with
more depths but needs dredging periodically more than required. I have bring vessels in on
7.5 mtrs draft although the docking draft at zero tide is 5.5 mtrs, simply because I worked on
high tide window of 2 to 3 mtrs.

To me ship repair is exciting and to an extend fun because it really challenges your thinking
outside the norm. Keep looking and keep understanding your area, ship repair is not just the
repairs per said. You can have the best and safes dock, world class facilities and effective
workforce. If the ship cannot come, is effort down the drain.

Good luck and all the best.

Regards
Clement See

JITHIN says
JULY 28, 2017 AT 5:10 PM

What are the dry dock repairs under statutory / class requirements

Anish says
AUGUST 3, 2017 AT 12:55 PM

We have created a forum for detailed discussion on technical and non-technical issues:
http://forums.marineinsight.com

KAPIL RANA says

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List any three jobs usually done on the anchoring system of a ship in a dry-dock .?

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