Low and dry, sitting on blocks

Allcargo Laxmi sitting on blocks at Colombo dry-dock

By late evening, on the day of entering the dry-dock, the water had been pumped out and our vessel Allcargo Laxmi was sitting on blocks in the company of three other vessels. The dock is quite big and four rounds each of up and down are a good work out for me at this age. I try to take one in the morning and two to three later in the day.

Anchor chain being ranged in dry-dock

Marine growth has been scraped off, thickness measurements are almost complete and sand blasting will commence soon. Preparations are also being made to unship the rudder as the propeller shaft has to be taken out for survey and inspection. On most ships the shaft can be drawn within the vessel making the removing of rudder unnecessary. But in our case the design is such as will require the shaft to be taken outward thus necessitating the removal of rudder as well.

Four vessels in the dry-dock. One supply vessel and barge in the foreground and another supply vessel and Allcargo Laxmi in the background

Anchor chains has been removed from the bitter end and have been ranged for calibration and inspection. There is lot of hustle and bustle in the dry-dock as hundreds of people from yard workshops are attending four vessels at the same time in the same dry-dock.
It is quite interesting to know as to how the areas coming near the edge of a block are inspected and how a block is removed or shifted.