Hydraulikpresse 2 | 2011 - Hansa Flex

a luxury holiday. during the journeys, which were split into summer and winter
‘cruises’, participants really were required to get on board.
HisTorical new Build
but now it has all come to an end, at least in the short term – given that the maintenance
costs for the three-master were increasing year on year. building a new
ship would prove more economical, and so the dsst commissioned brenn- und
verformtechnik bremen gmbh (bvt) to build a new tall ship – the first in more
than 50 years to be built in germany. bvt has more than 20,000 square metres of
space at its disposal at its main manufacturing site in bremen. it is here that sections
of ship and steel constructions are built, each weighing up to 1,500 tonnes.
the shipbuilders here have completed more than a dozen ship extensions since
2004, along with other projects.
all aBouT cuTTinG and mouldinG
bvt will mould almost 400 tonnes of steel in rebuilding the ‘alexander ii’ such
that they can later be welded together to form a ship. since we know that can’t
be as easy as it sounds, we in february 2011 visited the site of what used to be
vulkan-Werft in the vegesack area of bremen in order to form our own opinion.
it is draughty, cold and loud in the enormous hangars of this specialist operation.
at the entrance to the largest hangar, countless steel plates are piled on top of
each other. at first glance, there is no sign of a ship. “this is where the steel is
cut and moulded,” explains project leader arndt Lohner. the cutting is done by
powerful computer-controlled plasma flame cutting machines which are capable
of burning out any shape required from a steel plate. hydraulically-operated tools
ensure the right three-dimensional form by bending the individual parts under
high pressure to centimetre-precision. and there’s still no sign of a ship.
but then we enter the second hangar and suddenly we see something in front of
us which at first glance looks like the rust-coloured carcass of a whale. it is only
at second glance that we are able to recognise: this will one day be a ship. We
climb over the shell using ladders and wooden planks and soon we are on the
deck. a part of the hull is still missing, yet you can still feel the waves bobbing
beneath you. getting an image of how the new three-master will look when it is
completed requires some imagination – when we visited the ‘alex ii’ still consisted
of individual sections which will gradually be welded together.
on THe inside
having climbed up, it’s time to climb down into the whale. inside the colossus,
the metallic sound of hammering resonates throughout the empty body of the
ship. surrounded by steel, we are standing inside the belly of the ‘alexander von
humboldt ii’, the successor to the legendary tall ship with its green sails. all around
us is a hive of activity. A total of 70 people are working on the shell, because time
is tight. the completed ship will be handed over to its owner, dsst, as early as september
2011. by then, 20 crew members and up to 60 guests will be sleeping and
eating on board. space for them all is more than limited. in an area measuring not
more than two square metres, the floor plans show a shower, a wash basin and a
toilet. there certainly won’t be any spa here. anyone looking for luxury won’t find
it on board the alex.
We delve even further down to where the engine room will be located. this is
where a large part of the piping which hansa-fLeX has supplied for the ‘alexander
von humboldt ii’ will be installed. the bremerhaven branch is leading
this project. this branch has been serving bvt for some years now, and supplies
hydraulic connections both for the machines used by the moulding specialists
as well as for their various projects. as such, hansa-fLeX is also playing a
HYDRAULIKPRESSE 2|2011
cover story TiTelsTory
small part in ensuring that there will soon be another barque bearing the name
of the last great universal scholars sailing the world’s oceans. but the ‘alex ii’
first needs to be transported from vegesack to the bvt branch in bremerhaven
where its interior will be fitted out. only then will the three-master be able to
set sail for the first time. Without green sails as its predecessor had, but its fans
will soon get used to that. ¡
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