Volvo Ocean Race-Installation Complete

Intermarine’s Portuguese Partners, Ahlers Lindley, have successfully completed the installation of the pontoons for the Volvo Ocean Race at the Doca de Pedrouços in Lisbon. Lindley have worked very hard over the last couple of months to ensure the project was completed on time and to a very tight budget. Intermarine supported this effort by fast-tracking the design and production of the mix of Atlantic Waterways and Coastal pontoons. We selected the right equipment depending on the exposure of final position of the various piers/fingers. This means that the extra strength can be concentrated where it is needed and demonstrates the flexibility of Intermarine’s modular systems, allowing easy mixing of different types of pontoon. All of the finger pontoons were custom designed for this project demonstrating our commitment to meeting the customers requirements. We pride ourselves on providing the solution that the customer and site require as opposed to always trying to make standard equipment fit. This extra level of service at no additional cost, makes for a better solution and a happier customer.

A steel system was the best solution for this location as it is relatively exposed and the vessels using the marina large. Aluminium pontoons would have been prone to fatigue failure and difficult to repair on site. The cost of strengthening standard aluminium pontoons to suit the site would have been excessive. We addressed the corrosion concerns by upgrading the standard 80 micron galvanised finish, by grit blasting, which increased the thickness of the galvanisation to 140 microns on the exposed elements. We also rounded the edges of the C-section profiles to ensure consistent galvanisation thickness as it tends to thin on sharp corners. Finally, the whole system was painted, providing enhanced corrosion resistance for this high profile marina.