Bem,foi isto que os executivos da Royal Caribbean decidiram fazer.Eles pegaram um dos seus navios,-Enchantment of Seas- e expandiram-no para atender ao aumento da procura por cruzeiros.
O corte foi feito através de chapas de aço,piscina,sistema de ventilação,enfim tudo cortado em linha no período de 2 dias,sendo visto uma linha de luz no final do trabalho entre as duas partes
seccionadas do navio.
Após isso os trabalhadores moveram as duas partes do navio para acomodar a enorme estrutura
de 73 pés e 2.500 toneladas ( que contém 151 novas cabines)e depois ajustar e reunir as duas partes novamente,um processo que durou duas semanas.
O aumento do navio durou aproximadamente um mês e ocorreu no estaleiro chamado de Kepell
Verlome, em Roterdan e teve um custo de 60 milhões de dólares, apenas uma fração do que custaria para construir um novo navio.Agora o navio esta pronto para "encantar" 300 viajantes a mais em cada uma de suas viagens.
ADDS 151 NEW CABINS!
12-Story Cruise Ship is Cut in Half
Say you are an executive of a cruise company, the demand for cruises is growing rapidly and you want to increase the passenger capacity of your ships. What would you do? You can, of course, order new ships, but it takes 3 or more years to build them. How about something quicker? How about you take one of your huge 12-story ships, cut it in half at the middle and add a huge block of new rooms?
Well, that as exactly how the executives at Royal Caribbean decided to proceed. They took one of their ships – Enchantment of the Seas – and expanded it to accommodate for increased demand for cruises.
Initially, the construction crew used circular saws and torches to cut the ship at the middle. They cut through everything – the outer hull that was made from steel, the watertight inner hull, cables, pipes, even ventilation system. The swimming pool on the ship’s top deck was also cut. The whole cutting process took 2 days, and after it was finished, a narrow line of light could be seen traveling from the top of the ship all the way to the bottom.
After that, the construction crew moved the two halves of the ship away from each other, and positioned a huge 73 foot, 2,500 ton section (which contained 151 furnished rooms) between them. Then came the final part – reattaching cables, pipes and everything else – a process that took two weeks.
The enlargement of the cruise ship took about one month, during which the ship grew from 916 feet to 990 feet. This process, which took place on a shipyard called Keppel Verlome in Rotterdam, Netherlands, cost about $60 million, just a fraction of the cost it takes to build a new ship. Now the ship – Enchantment of the Seas – is able to enchant 300 more vacationers on each of its trips.
