Günter Wichmann, Edwin Mast

"A ship sees land" – The risks of modern shipbuilding

Spectacular losses during the construction, conversion, or repair of vessels in shipyards are nothing out of the ordinary. In the past five years alone, insured losses worldwide totalled more than US$ 750m. Risk assessment is of vital importance and requires a consideration of numerous factors.

Ocean-going vessels are built in dry docks or – though increasingly seldom – on a sloping plain called a slipway. When repairs are needed, however, they are usually performed in floating docks. In modern ship construction, the entire process takes place more and more commonly in covered docks. Even large passenger and container vessels are built here nowadays.

The dry dock is usually a concrete basin, with a floor that must be deeper than the draft of the largest ship to be built in the dock. The basin is separated from the water by a dock gate. The ship rests on keel blocks made of steel or cement slabs interspersed with layers of timber.

Once the hull has been launched from the slipway or floated in the dry dock, it is taken to the fitting-out quay and finished. Finishing is followed by final tests and a sea trial.

Building the hull is the major part of the construction process. The hull of a large container ship has more than 100,000 individual parts.

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