Norwegian maritime services company Bergen Group Services AS announced it has been contracted for maintenance and upgrade work on the 10-year classification of SS Statsraad Lehmkuhl.
SS Statsraad Lehmkuhl is a 3-masted steel bark, built by Johann C. Tecklenberg AG in Bremerhaven-Geestemünde in 1914 as a training ship for the German merchant marine. It has previously served as a school training vessel for the German Navy, and has been chartered for the same purpose by the Royal Norwegian Navy since 2002.
SS Statsraad Lehmkuhl is scheduled to be put in dry dock in December this year in connection with 10-year classification and other maintenance work. The 103-year-old ship is one of the few three-masted bark-rigged ships that still operate actively, both as school ship and in various other contexts.
Bergen Group Services AS has also signed a 5-year framework (with additional optional 2 +2 years) agreement with the foundation Statsraad Lehmkuhl covering future maintenance and upgrades of the historic sail ship.
Managing Director Frode Johansson looks forward to an assignment that mainly will be carried out in the historic dry dock at Laksevåg.
“Bergen Group Services has for a number of years gained strong expertise in the implementation of complex and demanding ship-technical maintenance projects. It is especially exiting for us to use this knowledge on the city’s sailboat pride. It is also satisfactory to record that the maritime environment in the home town of the sailing ship is competitive on these types of projects, ” Johansson said.
In addition to the agreement relating to the 10 yeas classing, Bergen Group Services AS said it was also awarded a 5-year framework agreement with the foundation and owner of the sailing ship, Stiftelsen Seilskipet Statsraad Lehmkuhl (SSSL). The framework agreement is related to ship-technical maintenance related to an established maintenance plan. The framework agreement may optionally be extended by 2 x 2 year options.