Norwegian Breakaway, the most important cruise ship to ever be in-built Germany, departed Meyer Werft in Papenburg, for her approximately 24-hour long conveyance along the Ems River yesterday morning and arrived in Eemshaven early today.
The river conveyance demonstrated Norwegian Breakaway’s seaworthiness and marked another key milestone sooner than the ship’s highly anticipated delivery.
Sailing backwards, Norwegian Breakaway left Meyer Werft at approximately 10:00 (local time in Germany), and made a narrow passage in the course of the ship yard’s locks, with just one.6 metres clearance separating the ship from the “bumpers” that were specially installed along the starboard side of the locks.
This manoeuvre took approximately 1.5 hours at a maximum speed of only 0.2 knots.
The precise navigation was led by a team of 2 located at the bridge, with one navigation officer answerable for overseeing the bow manoeuvres and the opposite overseeing the movement of the strict. After passing in the course of the locks, Norwegian Breakaway continued along the river, stern first.
Due to the strong propulsion within the aft portion of the vessel, travelling stern first helps with manoeuvrability that is a key component when navigating the vessel through such narrow passages.
In preparation for the ship’s conveyance, the Nautical Operations teams from both MEYER WERFT and
Norwegian trained and practiced the suitable manoeuvres for the past several months, utilising high tech simulators and detailed schematics.
Norwegian Breakaway presented the main challenging conveyance ever, because the ship required precise manoeuvres with a purpose to navigate through extremely narrow passages, with under two metres clearance on both sides of the vessel.
Before reaching her final destination in Eemshaven, Netherlands early Thursday morning, heading toward the North Sea, Norwegian Breakaway gone through additional narrow passages including the locks in Papenburg, which enable only one.5 metre clearance on all sides; Weener Bridge in Weener; Jann-Berghaus Bridge in Leer; and Ems-Barrier in Gandersum.