WILLEMSTAD, HARLINGEN - The maintenance of support ship Zr.Ms. Pelican is in full swing. Since the beginning of December 2019, the ship has been in the Netherlands for major maintenance.
The Pelican has been in the dry dock of Damen Shipyards Group in Harlingen since February. Maintenance has been carried out in the dry dock on the outside and bottom of the ship.
The ship will come out of the dock in Harlingen this week and will be towed to the naval base in Den Helder for the final phase of the maintenance. This is also the phase when the entire crew starts an internal work-up program. The work-up period consists of training for various calamities such as fire and collisions, but also the self-help-comrades-help (ZHKH) protocols are being refreshed.
For that reason, the seven crew members who are still in Curacao will fly to the Netherlands this Wednesday. The regular crew is divided into two teams for maintenance. Team one and team two change every three weeks to divide maintenance and periods in the Netherlands. However, due to the coronavirus and, as a result, the closure of the airspace, a team of the crew has been in the Netherlands since the beginning of March.
An important period of maintenance is now dawning. In Den Helder, in addition to reprocessing, the new, improved crane will also be installed onboard. It is planned that the upgraded Pelican will be back in the Caribbean ready for deployment in August. Until then, Zr.Ms. Karel Doorman remains in the Caribbean and takes care of the transport tasks between the islands.