Balmoral Retrofit

Vessel Information
Build: 1988
Owner: Fred Olsen Cruise Lines
Segment: Cruise

After more than 30 years in service a retrofit of the automation system was more than welcome! It was agreed that Hoglund Marine Solutions would supply the Integrated Alarm and Control System, Power Management System, Clutch Control System and AC Compressor Control, summarizing almost 3000 IOs.

The first encounter was already in September 2019. Høglund engineers were on board for a couple of days, sailing from Newcastle to Oslo, for a technical survey. They looked through old drawings, observed the crew in operation, took photos and tried to sketch up a plan. After all, a good plan is the first step of a successful job. Next step? Engineering!

Engineering. For the passengers on board this is not an interesting topic, but it can make a difference between a lovely cruise and a nightmare. The crew and owner know this very well and were keen to support Høglund with relevant technical details in connection with the project over the next 6 weeks.

December 9^th, 2019 – Blohm+ Voos Shipyard, Hamburg, Germany

First day at the shipyard. Just 10 days to departure. The following team is on site: 4 service engineers from Hoglund Marine Solutions Norway, 2 from Hoglund Marine Solutions Romania, 2 from ACEL Norway and 7 from Eekels Romania, all lead by Hoglund’s co-founder, Anders Fjerbaek. His presence on site was sending a very clear message: this is a top priority project and we mean to do it well.

Dismantling old hardware is always a joy. The team started off by tearing apart the IO cabinets, cutting and drilling. For few days, the ECR looked like a battlefield. It has to get worse before it gets better; Høglund service engineers, with experience from many similar retrofits know that. But for the crew on board who never saw a job like this, it was surely a little scary. Will everything really be replaced and connected in the right way in just some days from now?

Step by step, the new equipment was installed and sensors reconnected. Everything was powered back. Testing generator protections, valves and pumps, network connections, clutch control, alarms and sensors, automatic functions, the team members worked very hard to make the ship ready to receive its passengers. All challenges along the way were fixed and the solution fine-tuned.

December 19^th, 2019 – Sailing again, back to Southampton, UK

Only 3 team members remained on board to follow the vessel in it’s first cruise after dry docking: the Christmas cruise. Starting from Southampton, sailing to Canary Islands and Madeira before heading back, it was the perfect ending. Along the way, Høglund team had enough time to train the crew, troubleshoot and test few remaining points and keep the system under observation. The comfort and safety of the passengers was Fred Olsen’s main concern and Høglund engineers were onboard to make sure that nothing interfered with that.

Somewhere on the way back, the engineers found out why Fred Olsen Cruises chose Hoglund Marine Solutions for this job. Asking for feedback from owners who’ve done this kind of job before, our name popped out every time.

Why Høglund? The answer is quite simple: Høglund gets the job done! Thank you, Fred Olsen Cruises for your thrust in us!