After several years of construction at CSSC's Tianjin
Xingang shipyard in northern China, the hospital ship Global Mercy - the
largest civilian vessel of her kind ever built - has completed her official sea
trials. After some final fitting out, the shipyard will present the ship for
delivery this summer.
When delivered, she will sail to Antwerp and Rotterdam for
crewing and outfitting, then to Senegal for her first mission.
“These deep-water trials represent a critical checklist for
our new purpose-built ship . . . [and] I am pleased to say that the Global
Mercy successfully passed every test,” said Jim Paterson, Marine Executive
Consultant for Mercy Ships. “We are then left with some finishing touches in
the interior, particularly the hospital area before we take delivery."
"The purpose of a sea trial is to ensure that the
ship's systems are working properly during operation and that the requirements
of the specifications and applicable standards are met," says Per
Westling, CEO Stena RoRo. "The hospital services to be provided on the
Global Mercy entail increased requirements for good ventilation and
minimization of vibrations, for example. This was also checked and she was approved
on all counts."
Swedish ro/pax operator Stena RoRo is leading the
project, and Finnish naval architecture
house Deltamarin is contributing to the design. The vessel is classed by LR and
will sail under the Maltese flag.
Stena RoRo based the project on international standards for
ro/pax ferries. That layout has been modified to a purely passenger ship design
with hospital facilities. The Global Mercy has six operating theaters, 200
hospital beds, a laboratory, a patient clinic and an eye and dental clinic. In
total, she will be able to accommodate 950 people, including 640 crewmembers.
"For a few years now, our team has consisted of up to
16 members, stationed at the Tianjin Xingang shipyard," said Stena project
leader and site manager Rikard Olsson, who has been working on the project in
China since 2016. "For this shipyard, this is the first time this kind of
ship, which can be compared to a cruise ship, has been built. We have worked
hard to meet the required standard and everything has gone very well."
The first mission will begin in 2022, when the Global Mercy
is expected to deploy to Dakar, Senegal. With the assistance of more than 600
onboard volunteers from around the world, including professional mariners and
medical staff, she will provide a variety of medical services to underserved
communities.
More than 93 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa
does not have access to safe surgical care, and the coronavirus pandemic has
put limited local resources under strain. Mercy Ships says that a hospital ship
provides the ideal platform to address the need for care in coastal nations
with limited shoreside infrastructure.