Record-Setting BOKA Vanguard to Serve as Dry Dock for Carnival Cruise Ship

An illustration shows the Carnival Vista loaded on the bowless deck of the BOKA Vanguard. Image courtesy Boskalis

Dutch marine engineering company Royal Boskalis Westminster says it has been awarded a contract by Carnival Cruise Line to dry dock the Carnival Vista cruise ship aboard the world’s largest semi-submersible vessel BOKA Vanguard.

The operation, the first of its kind in the world, will take place in the coming weeks in Freeport, Bahamas.

Carnival Vista is the second largest cruise ship in the Carnival fleet with a capacity of nearly 4,000 passengers and a length in excess of 300 meters. While docked, the vessel will undergo repairs to the ship’s azipods, its main propulsion system.

The loading and lifting operation is scheduled to take place over the course of two days later this month off the coast of Freeport. The BOKA Vanguard will then safely transport Carnival Vista to a nearby shipyard where the repairs will take place while the cruise ship sits on the Vanguard’s 275-meter by 70-meter open deck. Once repairs are complete, Carnival Vista will be offloaded in time for its next cruise voyage later this month.

Boskalis says the decision to use the BOKA Vanguard as a drydock platform comes as no other such equipment is currently available in the region. 

Freeport, located just 90 nautical miles from Miami, is home to Grand Bahama Shipyard, one of the premiere repair yards for South Florida-based cruise ships. One the yard’s three dry docks was damaged earlier this year in an accident that took place during repairs of the Oasis of the Seas cruise ship. We reached out to GBS for an update on the status of the dry dock involved but so far have not heard back.

Read Next: Royal Caribbean Reveals Cost of Oasis Dry Dock Mishap

Subscribe for Daily Maritime Insights

Sign up for gCaptain’s newsletter and never miss an update

— trusted by our 109,143 members