France: BERNARD Completes Delivery of Pilot Boat FRESENA

Next Thursday, FRESENA, 18 meters pilot boat will be delivered to LOTSENVERSETZBOOTE TECHNISCHE FACHSTELLE NORDWEST pilots and leave Lorient for the port of Emden in northern Germany. After FRYA delivered in May 2011, this unit is the second in a series of 4 vessels for German pilots.

Marc Bernard, technical director of shipyard Bernard: “The prototype of the pilot boat named Frya is operating for almost a year in the area of Borkum from the port of Emden. It has proved highly satisfactory in particular on its behavior at sea in rough weather. We are pleased to deliver her sister ship after confirming a series of tests: a maximum speed exceeding 30 knots, a noise level below 75 decibels in the wheelhouse and many technical innovations including the warming bridge and handrail tailored to work in northern Germany in extreme cold. A third vessel named “Burkana” will be delivered in September to Borckum before a fourth vessel to the pilotage station of Bremerhaven. “

Frank Dinnebier, boat Captain Lotsenversetzboote Technische Fachstelle Nordwest: “I’ve driven the first boat Frya and with Fresena we confirmed the performance of the ORC 190 ship with high speed of 31 knots in good weather and which is much safer and comfortable for our pilots. This is a great change that makes interventions more effective, fast and safe than with the smaller pilot boats limited to 6 knots we used so far.”

General characteristics of the boat:

– Model: Pilot boat ORC 190.2

– Monolithic polyester hull

– Bridge – bulkheads – wheelhouse in foam sandwich / GRP vacuum

– Wheelhouse fitted on cushioned feet

– Warming bridge to prevent frost

– Handrail outdoor heated to prevent frost

– Self-righting

– 19m60 LOA

– 6m30 Beam

– Propulsion: 2 x 1000 hp M.T.U. engines

– Speed: 30 kts

– Cruising speed: 22 kts sea conditions force 4-5

– Crew: 02

– Pilots: 08

– Hydraulic pilot ladder with platform and railing to ensure greater safety for pilots in dangerous maneuvers alongside giant merchant ships arriving at ports in Northern Europe.

-Classification Bureau Veritas

One of European leaders for “all weather” speed boats Success story of the ORC craft

The French shipyard BERNARD, located in the Lorient harbour, has been building Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) workboats from 10 to 25 metres since 1969.

First specialized in the construction of fishing vessels and passenger boats, the shipyard BERNARD is now the leading French shipbuilder of Rescue and Pilot boats. The SNSM (French sea rescue institution) has chosen BERNARD shipyard to build over 80 lifeboats from 9 to 16 meters in 20 years.

Since 1998, the shipyard BERNARD has build the new range of high speed crafts: the ORC boats, based on the forward « BEAK » hull design also known as the « ORCA » concept which meet the standards of classification societies Germanischer Lloyd and Bureau Veritas. Bernard shipyard can design and build high-speed crafts for operations such as: customs, coast guard, patrol and research, rescue and pilot.

Highlights of the vast experience and extensive collaborations with sea rescue and pilot stations professionals in France, the shipyard BERNARD has shown its expertise and the quality and performance of the boats launched in its yards beyond the borders of the “hexagon”. The reputation of the family business was widespread in Europe it became a leader in the construction of high speed fiberglass crafts with high-tech specificities:

– All weather crafts

– Self-righting

– Unsinkable

– Wheelhouse fitted on cushioned feet

– Handrail heated

– Hydraulic pilot ladder

Before this series of pilot boats ORC 190, the shipyard BERNARD had already delivered a pilot boat ORC 140 for Norwegian pilots of Hammerfest and six 8.5m pilot cutters “Craker 82″for the pilots of the Elbe and the Wesser in Germany (ports of Bremerhaven and Hamburg). Several rescue and pilot crafts have been delivered in France and in Belgium.

The French shipyard faced up the crisis

To meet the growing demands of European customers, the shipyard BERNARD invested in a second production site in 2011. It now has efficient infrastructure with a total area of 10750sqm: 7750 sqm at the historic site in the port of Pen Mane in Locqmiquelic, with its own slipway for the launching of ships directly into the harbor of Lorient. The second site is in the “K2 block” of the former submarine base in Lorient-Keroman. The cells of the former base, 110 meters long and 15m wide, has the distinction of having a constant temperature of 17degrees, significant feature for the construction of fiberglass boats.

The shipyard BERNARD thus faces the future with confidence brought by the commercial and technical family dynamic and relying on an experienced and qualified staff with expertise in all professions of shipbuilding. Everything is made to the site: hull, superstructure, painting, mechanical, hydraulic, insulation, boiler … The Company that realizes a turnover of € 6M employs 60 people, including 40 in Locmiquelic and 20 in Lorient.

The shipyard Bernard continues to develop in the export approaching new European markets. To anticipate the future, the company is innovating and developing new vessels to diversify its business. The shipyard has a draft of an innovative multihull fishing boat and just started building an unsinkable leisure craft: an 18-meter offshore yacht with mixed propulsion “Motor-sails.” It will have a monolithic polyester hull, deck, bulkheads and superstructure in polyester vacuum…

Workload for the coming months

Locmiquelic:

France

A rescue boat for the station of Royan (14m)

1 pilot boat for Pilot Station of Le Havre (16m)

Germany

Pilot boat (19m60)

Pilot boat (8m90)

Lorient (Block K2 BSM)

France

4 crafts for Customs (12m)

Germany

1pilot boat (19m60)

1pilot boat (8m90)

Belgium

A rescue boat (18m) 1 Leisure craft (Offshore 180 / 18m)

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Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, May 4, 2012; Image: Bernard