Drydock is the only time a ship truly stops. Automation work planned around that fact gets done; work remembered during drydock joins the regret list for the next cycle, years away.
What only drydock allows
Cable runs through normally-inaccessible spaces (tank tops, underdeck passages, machinery removals opening routes), sensors on systems that cannot be taken offline at sea (shaft instrumentation, sea-water systems, tank level penetrations), switchboard and MCC internals work requiring dead ship sections, and anything wanting hot work near fuel or paint. The corollary: every automation project on the wish list gets triaged by “does this need drydock?” — AMS database work and panel-internal upgrades can happen alongside; a new echosounder cable cannot.
Planning the window
Dependencies drawn honestly: automation tasks queue behind steel, blasting and machinery openings — the schedule negotiation with the yard decides more than the engineering does. Staging maximized: panels built, software simulated, cables cut to surveyed lengths before docking (our BWTS commissioning fit its window because the software had already failed all its failures in the office). Class coordination integrated: surveys witnessed during the same window, protocols ready, so the automation scope closes formally with the docking, not months after.
And the discipline that separates smooth dockings: a frozen worklist with a change-control gate. Drydock discovers surprises daily; the automation scope absorbs the genuine ones and deflects the “while we’re here” avalanche.
FAQ
Typical automation share of a drydock? From days (sensor and cable packages) to the full window (AMS/BWTS-class projects) — the fixed cost is planning quality either way.
Riding crew or yard labor for cable pulls? Yard pulls, integrator terminates and tests — the split that keeps accountability clean and schedules honest.
Zone Otomasyon plans vessel automation scopes around docking windows — with the staging done before the blocks touch the keel. Drydock projects.