Lankan marine experts in first time feat install 2 ton rudder underwater

For the first time, a ships rudder of a magnitude of 2 tons was fabricated outside a shipyard in Sri Lanka and installed underwater by Sri Lankan marine experts.Vietnamese cargo ship named Khanh Phu 27 on route to Malacca from Tuticrin, lost a rudder shaft in Sri Lanka’s North Western shores.

Having towed the cargo ship to the Colombo shipyard, a 2 ton rudder and a 8.5ft rudder shaft was fabricated and installed onto the vessel through diving operations under taken by Freedom Of Highseas, headed by Capt. Ranjith Weerasinghe For the first time a ships rudder of this magnitude was fabricated out side a ship yard in Sri Lanka. Such an installation was also a first, as it was done under water at open anchorage in adverse weather conditions. Capt Weerasinghe who runs the innovative “Freedom Of Highseas” and his associate expert diver Herman Perera of Commercial Divers carried out the daunting task.

Capt Weerasinghe a master mariner by profession was also an ex-maritime lecturer of RMIT, Melbourne lecturing on “Ships Structure” as a subject.

A team of dedicated personnel were responsible for making this unprecedented maritime task a reality when most critics believed it was an impossible task to successfully fabricate and install a rudder and rudder-stock to a vessel at Colombo Anchorage.