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Marine Design

The Renovation of MPort of Los Angeles

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The Worlds Largest Circulation Marine Industry Publication The Information Authority for the Global Marine Industry since 1939

October 2009

Marine Salvage

CleaningOld Wr


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Reprinted from the OCTOBER 2009 Edition of Maritime Reporte

A cruise ship earning a new lease on life viarenovation is hardly a unique concept. Costingupwards of a half a billion dollars with a lifes-pan of 30 years or more, these specialty shipsneed to fine-tune dcor and amenities to stayrelevant to the cruising publics evolving taste.

But the cruise ship M/V Freewinds is noordinary ship.

Born as the M/S Bohme and a foundingmember of the Caribbean cruise shippingindustry operating out of Miami, M/VFreewinds has for more than 20 years beenowned and operated as the cruise ship for theChurch of Scientology, and was a recent recip-ient of a top to bottom, inside out renovationwhich qualifies it as one of the finest ship ren-ovations ever.

M/V Freewinds to its crew and caretakers ismuch more than a ship: it is home, it is arefuge, a place of study and reflection. It waswith this frame of mind that when the deci-sion was made to keep it as the Church of Scientologys aquatic platform for years tocome helped to plan and execute the job.

This was a historic renovation, as this is oneof the first ships to start the cruise shippingbusiness in the Caribbean. To bring a ship likethat back to better condition than when shefirst arrived is unheard of it is quite fantas-tic said Tomas Tillberg, Tillberg DesignU.S., who was responsible for taking the orig-inal plans of a land-based architect to theirmaritime conclusion, providing drawings andspecifications so the job could be bid.

The effort and enthusiasm of the people

involved is what stands-out on this project,according to Jon Rusten, COO and VPDevelopment, Ocean Development Group, a

man with more than a few high-profile cruisship projects under his belt. The level quality is incredible. Nobody can afford thlevel of quality anymore, and they are indpendent of commercial consideration.

In 2005, when the Church of Scientologwas evaluating the future of its marine operations, it had owned and operated MFreewinds for nearly 20 of its 37-year exitence. The question essentially revolvaround two words: renovate or replace.

A magnificent ship renovation via

Elbow Grease, Heart & SoulIn todays I need it yesterday world, emphasis on quantity often overpowers quality, while the quick fix can supersede the correct one. Step back, take a deep breath and enjoy the fruits of a tremendous labor, a labor of love that resulted in the top-to-bottom renovation of storied ship with a unique owner.

By Greg Trauthwein, Editor

The level of quality is

incredible. Nobody can afford this

level of quality anymore. Jon Rusten,

COO and VP Development, Ocean

Development Group


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Reprinted from the OCTOBER 2009 Edition of Maritime Reporter

Starboard Main Engine Original brass details in theengine room and around theship were freed from 40 yearsof paint and restored to originalquality by the Freewinds crew.

The engine control room was restoredwhole new level, integrating traditional

originality with modern graphics and lighting.(Photo Credit: Johnny Riert)

This was a historic

renovation , as this is one of the first ships to

start the cruise shipping business in the

Caribbean. To bring a ship like that back to better

condition than when she first arrived is unheard of

it is quite fantastic

- Tomas Tillberg, Tillberg

Design U.S.

Before Aft

Before Aft

Before Aft


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We were looking at the age of the vessel,and trying to determine what our long-termlook was going to be, said THE CHIEFENGINEER. We surveyed several other ves-sels in 2005, and we came to realize that wehad a gold-mine sitting right underneath ourfeet.

The waiting lists for a new building werefar past our operational plans, said LudwigAlpers, Port Captain, M/V Freewinds. We didsurvey available vessels but the market wasslim and there was nothing that would havebeen a viable upgrade to the vessel we alreadyhad. To put it bluntly, they don't build ships

like they used to.

Old Ships = Good Ships?If nothing else, the maritime industry likes a

good ship story, and the M/V Freewinds (ex-M/S Bohme) has a good one to tell. The shipwas built in 1968 by Wrtsil in Turku,Finland, for Wallenius Lines as M/S Bohme,measuring 134 x 21 m with a 5.5 m draft andpowered by a pair of Wrtsil-Sulzer RD56-8diesels, generating 14,000 BHP and drivingthe twin-screw ship to 20 knots, according tothe ship history site www.faktaomfartyg.se

and http://en.wikipedia.org.Originally envisioned as a car ferry to oper-

ate between Bremerhaven and Harwich, theship featured a strong ice class hull and wasdesigned to carry 460 passengers. But as oftenhappens, plans change, and the fate of M/SBohme did too as the ferry line didnt turn outto be as successful as planned, and at the sametime Commodore Cruise Line was in search of a new ship: M/S Bohme was targeted. At keellaying it was re-planned to be a cruise ship,and with M/S Bohme, Commodore helped to

start what is widely regarded as the birth of the

modern-day Caribbean cruise industry, offer-ing year-round, seven-night cruises out of Miami. Given the difference between theships original design and its eventual use, anumber of problems quickly presented them-selves, and the ship was rebuilt at GermanysBlohm + Voss in Hamburg in 1970, in part toaddress a subpar air conditioning system andto upgrade the refrigeration system.Following the rebuild, for the next 12 years theship had the same weekly route: Miami Puerto Plata St: Thomas and an overnightstay in San Juan. P.R., with the last port beingCape Hatien.

In 1986 the ship was sold to San DonatoProperties Corporation, Panama, and renamedM/V Freewinds, and Majestic Cruise Linesoperated it for the Church of Scientology, itspresent owner. Upon taking its new cruiseship, the owners set out on a 1.5 year renova-tion using local contractors in Curacao andchurch members, which essentially trans-formed the ship from a cruise ship targetingthe general public to a luxurious floatingretreat for members of the Church of Scientology, according to Alpers.

In 1986, the Freewinds fit the target size forthe vessel's planned operations, to serve as areligious retreat for the parishioners of theChurch of Scientology, said Alpers. Vesselswere surveyed all over the world but theBoheme was the perfect combination of sizeand condition for our needs.

M/V Freewinds TodayOne of the most significant achievements

on the project was to join the talents of a largenumber of professionals and artisans and drivetheir efforts to a common goal with the up-

most quality in the final product, said Carlos

H. Reyes, president of The Reyes Group anDesign Support Team, lead Architect on thproject.

When the decision was made to remake thship, the owner consulted with several leadingorganizations that could take its overall visionfor the ship and deliver form, function, a budget and a plan. Enter Ocean Development Corpand Tillberg Design U.S., a pair of firms intimately familiar to the growth of the U.Scruise shipping industry, as well as a host ocontractors in different ports of call.

I got involved in the 2nd stage when thereally wanted to make something special, said

Jon Rusten of Ocean Development Group. helped them define the scope of work, strategize about how far this would be taken, anprovided timeline, budgets and vision, to helthem facilitate, define the objectives and brinit to reality. The Freewinds hull, engines andequipment were all in excellent operationacondition, and in researching replacemenequipment it became obvious that it would bdifficult to find equipment compatible to itexisting systems, and that the lead-times, customization and suitability for the ship were alprohibitive. Very early in the planning, wrecognized the unique fact that the biggesproblem we were facing was not that thequipment was in bad shape or needed to breplaced, rather it looked old and worn anneeded a face lift. That really became the mission, said Captain Mike Napier, MasteFreewinds.

We came to the project by kind recommendation of Tomas Tillberg to the owner, saidReyes. Our main objective was to achieve level of products according to the overavision of the project and produce the necessar

components and elements within the budge


To put it bluntly, they

don't build ships like they

used to .

Ludwig Alpers, Port

Captain, M/V Freewinds

The original sound powered phone.

Restored braclearview screen


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assigned to it. We had to conform a greatgroup of artisans and overcome difficult issuesof all kinds as soon as the ship arrived toColombia, where the interior refit took place

Thus embarked the plan to not simplyspruce up the ship, but to extensively andcompletely renovate each and every space onthe ship, with the intention of making it betterthan the original when installed nearly 40years previously. Making the scope of the ren-ovation all the more amazing: while the organ-ization brought on a bevy of contractors to ful-fill much of the heavy duty fabrication andconstruction, it was the crew who was respon-sible for the intricate and laborious renewal

and renovation, including a meticulous clean-ing and rejuvenation of the engine room, theengine control room and the bridge (includingthe machining of the new stainless steel parts,overhauling the equipment, painting and pol-ishing), all while the ship stayed in operation.

The restoration (which physically started inAugust 2008 and was completed in June 2009)was done parallel to the scheduled interiorupgrades to the vessel and was much, muchmore a matter of man-hours and the elbowgrease of the crew, said Alpers. I can't evenimagine what a project like this would havecost if it had been contracted out commercial-ly. Every crew member onboard chipped insome time on the project.

The challenges when embarking on any shiprenovation are numerous.

The most challenging thing was therequirement to think outside the box. Itrequired a lot of creation and new ideas onhow to just take an ordinary piece of equip-ment and turn it into a show piece. You had toget away from the usual ideas of throwingsome new paint on it and rather envision what

it would look like with Stainless steel control

levers and sight glasses and a new stainlesssteel base, said the M/V Freewinds NavalArchitect. While the ship and plan were indeedunique, Tomas Tillberg of Tillberg DesignU.S. said that the age of the ship and the con-dition of the equipment didnt pose any specif-ic problems, per se. We did another shipalong those lines years back the QE2 butnowhere near to these standards, to this level.I think the challenges are pretty similar to therefits that we do on the other ships. You planthe best that you can, but you will always havesurprises. The challenge, really, is to get her tothe expectation of the owner. The expectationof the owner was to Preserve the heritage of

the ship and to make it look completely pris-tineAnother challenge was maintaining the oper-

ational aspects of the equipment while alsoupgrading the looks. For example, the moor-ing bits take quite a bit of load and it was notwanted that they just replace them out withstainless steel piping and plate; that would nothave the equivalent strength. So they clad theexisting bitts with stainless steel sheeting, andthen welded new top plates on them, makingthem look like they are fully stainless but thefull steel structure is still there.The engineroom, with its original Wrtsil-Sulzer RD56-8 diesels, posed a dual challenge, first andforemost regarding the sheer size and surfaceareas (70,000 sq. ft.) of the spaces, but also thefact that it would remain in full operation.There was no way we could just waterblast orsand all of the paint off of the equipment, bulk-heads and piping, Alpers said. In the end, welocated an environmentally friendly paintstripper that was not solvent based that wecould use throughout the engine room spaceswithout creating dust or fire hazards this

was really key to getting the machinery spaces

into a pristine condition.This included using 15 different sandpape

grits to help uncover and ultimately restormany of the brass highlights present but covered for decades by paint.

The renovations also included an environmentally friendly hull treatment, a non-toxicglass flake epoxy system with no environmental impact. This provides a very hard coatinwhich makes it difficult for marine growth toadhere.

Today the ship accommodates 340 passengers in 125 cabins and carries 256 crewRenovations complete, the story of M/VFreewinds begins again.

From Left: The newbridge; the restoredoriginal searchlight;and the telegraph.

(Sources for information:www.faktaomfartyg.se &http://en.wikipedia.org supplied of the historical informationregarding the ship prior to 1986)


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