Britain’s largest independent ship repairer, Burgess Marine, has successfully launched the 65m (212 feet) classic 1930’s superyacht Shemara from its ship lift facility at the top of Portsmouth Harbour. Shemara Refit LLP completed the refit in just over three years at the ex Vosper-Thornycroft yard in Portchester.
Burgess Marine provided specialist support and personnel to Shemara Refit LLP for structural and fabrication works, mechanical works and pipefitting. Mr Peter Morton, the owner of Shemara Refit LLP, said, “Burgess Marine has been an important partner in this project from the moment we took ownership of the vessel in Lowestoft in 2010.”
Burgess Marine’s Portchester facility has seen major investment since the company acquired Testbank Ship Repair in January 2013; the channel and syncrolift ‘pit’ have been extensively dredged by Jenkins Marine allowing vessels up to a maximum draft of 4.5m to utilise the ship lift. In line with further major investment in Trafalgar Wharf the wires, bearings and winches have all been overhauled and the sites infrastructure has been significantly improved.
Read the article: The trials and tribulations of rescuing a superyacht
About the author
Guy Canovan arrived in the world of naval architecture following gaining a degree from Southampton Institute as a mature student in 2000. Initially he worked for BMT Defence Services in Bath where he supported the Royal Navy by carrying out inclining experiments, stability analyses and structural capability tasks. After gaining his CEng status in 2004, he moved to Fleet Support in Portsmouth naval base where he became head of the design office. In June 2011, he received an offer from the Shemara project to lead the design team on the rescue of a 65m superyacht – Shemara. It was an offer he couldn’t refuse and shortly afterwards, armed with a lot of enthusiasm but little else, he arrived on the Shemara project. This is his story about rescuing a superyacht, MV Shemara.
