The ship is already at the Pontinha pier, where it arrived this afternoon from Caniçal, where the volume of cargo led APRAM (the Port Authority of Madeira) to request this relocation from the shipowner.
The ship Lobo Marinho will, for the first time, carry out part of its annual maintenance in the port of Funchal, occupying the space it usually uses when docked. This situation is due, as Carlos Perdigão Santos told DIÁRIO, to the intensity of cargo movement in the port of Caniçal.
Faced with this contingency, APRAM – the Port Authority of the Autonomous Region of Madeira – requested that the shipowner, “whenever possible,” move the vessel to Funchal, which, according to the executive administrator of Porto Santo Line, “does not interfere in any way with the work to be carried out.”
That is why the ship entered Pontinha this afternoon, where it is expected to remain for the next few days.
Carlos Perdigão Santos emphasizes that, during these first days of the Lobo Marinho’s stopover in Caniçal, some work was carried out that could not be done in the port of Funchal. In this regard, he notes that, to date, all the life rafts that are part of the rescue equipment have been removed and sent to the mainland to be properly certified for use; some tests were also carried out with a certifying body (DNV), as well as an underwater inspection of the ship. During this period, the lifeboats were also tested, particularly in the water. “So far, everything has gone very well,” summarizes the executive administrator of Porto Santo Line.
From now on, the ship will remain mostly in Funchal, with trips to Caniçal, due to the work to be carried out, always coordinated with APRAM. During its stay in Pontinha, the people of Madeira will be able to follow the ongoing maintenance, something that is not very common. The annual stop is expected to last about five weeks.