Future in Kiel: New tkMS shipbuilding hall

The thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (tkMS) shipyard wants to be able to build submarines faster and more efficiently in its new hall. The next submarines for Germany and Norway (class U 212 CD) are the most technically advanced of their kind and will now also be built in the most modern halls, CEO Oliver Burkhard told the German Press Agency. It is the most modern shipbuilding hall for conventional submarines in the world.

tkMS shipbuilding hall in Kiel. Graphic: tkMS

New technology

With its dimensions of 170 by 70 metres and a height of almost 33 metres, the hall complex that has just been handed over already dominates the cityscape on the eastern shore of Kiel's inner fjord. A major advantage of the huge building, which comprises eight individual halls, is the elimination of scaffolding. In future, workers will be able to work on the segments of the boat hulls on different levels with the help of flexible platform elements. In addition, all media such as electricity and gases for welding are available directly at the boat segments via fixed lines, so that long hoses, pipes and tangled extension cables are no longer necessary. The hall also has a powerful extraction system to filter the harmful substances from the air that are produced when welding stainless steel.

Investments in the future

According to tkMS, the pure construction time of a U 212 CD class submarine - excluding planning and testing - is around three and a half to four years. The facilities in the new hall are expected to generate a time advantage of more than 20 per cent. The building, founded on 1250 concrete piles, is part of a 250 million euro modernisation of the shipyard. The hall was built without any serious problems, both on time and slightly under budget.

Source: Zeit Online