Solar Solve Marine, the UK manufacturer of SOLASOLV® anti glare sun shades for navigation bridge windows, was contracted to supply 17 new sets of anti glare sun shades to the Cruise Ship Oriana in April 2011.
The vessel, which was built at Meyer Weft in Germany in 1995, originally had SOLASOLV® anti glare sun shades installed at the newbuild stage, but after giving 16 years of exceptional service they were in need of replacing. The vessel has a capacity of 1,928 passengers and regularly cruises the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas as well as the Fjords before returning to base in Southampton where it docks for one day to replace passengers and stores.
An enquiry was made by the vessel’s Superintendent to Solar Solve during March and a survey team was dispatched on a 740 mile round trip from South Shields to Southampton on 30 th March to carry out a survey and take measurements. An order was placed by the vessel a few days later for a complete set of replacement anti glare sun shades.
In April a team of fitters from Solar Solve set off on the 740 mile round trip to Southampton to install 17 new SOLASOLV® anti glare sun shades onboard the Oriana when the vessel docked. With the vessel only in port for 8 hours, timescales were very tight and the team worked efficiently to install the new large screens which averaged over 2 metres in both width and drop. Upon completion of the installation they also made time to remove all of the old screens and fittings from the bridge. The Deputy Captain who was on duty oversaw the project and was very pleased with the new anti glare sun shades.
SOLASOLV® anti glare sun shades use a range of highly effective shade films that are made up of multiple layers of polyester, dyes, and include a micro layer of aluminium. This allows the anti glare sun shades to protect bridge crew against the effects of sun glare and solar gain whilst offering a 100% completely clear outside view whilst navigating. The shade film is tinted which significantly reduces eye-strain ensuring modern bridge equipment displays are easier to read, so human errors are less likely to occur. Heat is rejected to reduce fatigue by creating a more comfortable and cooler working environment for crew. Less demand is also placed on bridge air-conditioning systems which require additional fuel consumption to run so environmentally conscious fleet owners can benefit from fuel savings while lowering their gas emissions if they install anti glare sun shades at every window on the bridge.
Paul Hopkins, Solar Solve’s Sales and Marketing Executive commented, “With the original SOLASOLV® anti glare sun shades providing such a long and reliable service, the crew on the Oriana were keen to buy from Solar Solve again. Working with both the vessel’s Superintendent and Deputy Captain we had to operate within their tight schedule but with our dedicated team of fitters we were able to do what would normally take two days to complete in only a single day which is an amazing achievement. The vessel continues to be protected under the SOLASOLV® brand and if, as predicted, the new anti glare sun shades provide another 16 years of service then our product will have served the Oriana for 32 years.”
Top Image – The navigation bridge of the Oriana where a new set of SOLASOLV® anti glare sun shades has been installed and is now in operation.
