It welcomes the Champlain until mid-June, French Navy ship, for complete maintenance and renewal of certain parts and materials.
If the Grand Maritime Port of Reunion (GPMLR) has equipped itself with this equipment, this is to allow the maintenance and repair of fishing fleets and others on site in Reunion. With its 120 meters long and 40 meters wide, its two cranes and its capacity to lift ships weighing up to 4,600 tonnes, it lives up to its name… To preserve the metal structure in the event of a cyclone, the powerful mooring pillar and the jaws of its attachment to quay no. 9 of the West Port are also impressive. In France, four floating docks of the same type are in service : in Rouen, in Guadeloupe, in French Polynesia, and therefore now in Reunion. Considered since the 2000s, the project to be able to offer such a tool to armaments and the National Navy could only come to fruition from 2018. Four years later, Kherson shipyard, a Ukraine, was preparing to start construction of the floating dock when the war broke out. The GPMLR had to find an alternative solution : a second-hand floating dock recovered in Nigeria, completely renovated in South Africa before being transported to Reunion. Tested last month with a fishing boat, the Titan floating dock gave complete satisfaction. The total cost of the operation (material, transport, works) reached 28 million euros. The investment benefited from European financial aid.
Industrial progress
April 21, an overview of the maintenance site of the first ship using the floating dock was given by Lieutenant Commander Augustin, commander of Champlain, overseas support and assistance building (BSAOM). The operating principle of the dock is quite simple. Weighted with water, the dock is submerged (it can dive up to 7 m deep). The ship to be put out to dry then takes position between its two side walls. Letting go of its water ballast, the floating dock rises into the open air by lifting its load. As it happens, here that of a 2,500 ton boat, 62 meters long and 24 meters wide. Assigned in particular to maritime surveillance, this vessel launched in 2017 is undergoing its second five-year general maintenance. A project lasting approximately two months, entrusted by the French Navy to Piriou. A second project is already planned.
