Maritime engineering specialist Intermarine UK has completed its latest project to construct a floating platform for the Royal Navy.
The Dorset-based company has built a 24×12 metre pontoon that will be moored to the stern of either HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH or HMS PRINCE OF WALES when anchored in Portsmouth, allowing crew and passengers to board and disembark at the rear of the ship.
Intermarine UK, part of Polish-owned Inter Marine Group, opened a 2,000sqm fabrication and welding facility at Portland Port on England’s south coast at the start of 2018.
Over the past year it has spent in excess of £500,000 equipping the site with state-of-the-art machinery.
Mark Bowden, Intermarine UK production manager, said:
“This project for the Royal Navy has made excellent use of the production base we’ve created at Portland Port. All the equipment we’ve installed in the workshop has been used to produce this pontoon, from the hydraulic rolling machine to the CNC press brake. Our CNC plasma cutting machine is ideal for any steel project and on this occasion it enabled us to cut out all the panels required for the pontoon.
It removed the need to mark the panels by hand, cut them and then dress them, speeding up the whole process and increasing productivity. It’s a perfect example of the investment we’ve made in our facility at Portland Port bearing fruit.”
The pontoon was built in four sections over a period of two-and-a-half months say the firm.
“Each part was then bolted together to create a floating platform with a lightship displacement of 86 tonnes. The bolted I-section framework in the middle of the pontoon carries a soft patch deck area of approximately 16×6 metres. The completed platform was then delivered to Portsmouth.
Prior to establishing its production facility, Intermarine UK played a central role in the assembly of Britain’s two new aircraft carriers.”
As part of a four-and-a-half year project employing 500 people, the company was tasked with aligning and joining up sections of HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH and HMS PRINCE OF WALES.
Each of the ships’ modules comprised 16 decks and weighed hundreds of tonnes, making it a huge undertaking requiring considerable skill and precision.
Aft
When QE was moored in NY harbour last autumn, I noticed the stern was close to a raised pontoon/platform area which was obviously used by a river taxi service to shuttle the crew into Manhattan and their jollies ashore
Is the Portland facility majority Polish staffed as well?