• Transport and infrastructure

Cruise line selects Mimic

A major cruise line has saved over $1.5million in annual maintenance costs, thanks to a new monitoring system developed by James Fisher Mimic.

The monitoring hardware and software was installed on eight vessels with an established pattern of turbocharger failure, in December 2012. Over the following twelve months there were ten catastrophic failures across the 90-odd turbochargers used in these ships: of these failures, seven were as a result of the known failure pattern, and therefore fell within the remit of Mimic’s contract.

“All seven of these failures were recognised in their early stages by our monitoring system and the operating crew were alerted. As a result, they were able to shut down the engine, reducing the load on the turbocharger – and so reduce the repair bill from $250,000 per catastrophic turbo failure to $25,000, meaning a notional saving to the client of $1,575,000 over the course of a year.”

Reports Martin Briddon, Mimic’s engineering manager.