Trelleborg operation’s SafePilot system was used to safely navigate ‘Ovation of the Seas’, the world’s equal fourth largest cruise ship, into Napier, New Zealand.
Napier Port pilots, Trevor Morrison and Ruslan Mitlash, used Trelleborg’s CAT III SafePilot solution to bring the large ship into the relatively small port.
Ruslan said: “There was no room for error when berthing the ‘Ovation of the Seas’ at Napier Port, so accurate information on speed, rate of turn (ROT), and clearing distances was vital. SafePilot was an integral part of the operation right from the planning stage, and the real-time information it provided was critical to the safety and success of the manoeuvre.
“We find SafePilot very user-friendly, and being able to use it with a tablet makes it a convenient tool not just for pilots, but for the whole team on the bridge,” he said.
Napier is situated on Hawke’s Bay in New Zealand. It is the North Island’s second largest export port by tonnage. It hosts around 50 cruise ship visits each year, but the ‘Ovation of the Seas’ is the largest vessel to call, overtaking the 138,194 gt ’Voyager of the Seas’, which first visited in 2014.
Trelleborg has supplied the port for 15 years. The SafePilot CAT III unit is designed for robustness, accuracy and reliability. It is engineered to meet the needs of the most demanding piloting applications, which require accuracy to the centimetre, as well as heave, pitch and roll monitoring, the company claimed.
Bruce Lochhead, Napier Port’s Port Services Manager, said: “It was a great experience seeing ‘Ovation of the Seas’ come into port, as the weather conditions the night before had us thinking twice about whether she would be able to berth. We’re very proud that ‘Ovation’s’ call went so smoothly – it was a real testament to the skill of our pilots, the calibre of their equipment and the efforts of the team here at Napier Port.”
