Category: Latest News

We recently worked closely with Cammell Laird on their £49.5m refit of the Royal Fleet Auxilary (RFA) combined fleet supply ship, RFA Fort Victoria, one of the largest vessels operated by the British Ministry of Defence at 31,000 tonnes.

The main highlight of the refit was the installation of a double-hull which will improve Fort Victoria to achieve international compliance, plus upgrades to allow her to better replenish and support the new Queen Elizabeth class carriers. These upgrades continue plans to keep the vessel in service until the late 2020’s.

Cammell Laird were looking for a supplier who could provide a complete set of replacement level transmitters and we were delighted to win the project, mainly due to our ICT transmitter having a proven track record on other Ministry of Defence vessels and by other navies around the world.

We worked closely with the Cammell Laird Design Engineering team to develop a solution that had minimal reworking of the existing installation arrangements and allowed for the current electrical cabling to be reused to minimise cost and installation time.

The massive refit which took 10 months and is the largest undertaken by Cammell Laird and saw over 450 men employed on the project, was completed on time and on budget, largely down to meticulous planning by all parties.

Over 20 years ago PSM supplied the Belgian vessel, the MV Pompei, with our sensors. Now all these years later, the ship owner has been so delighted with the longevity of the sensors, they requested an upgrade to our full digital package.

The refit was carried out in Turkey at the Sefine shipyard, utilising our complete TankView system. Supplied as a complete package for central control of the fuel and fresh water tanks plus the oil and ballast tanks, including our ICT transmitters and a number of bilge switches for flood detection.

Our TankView package is recognised as providing a marine tank monitoring system which is powerful, versatile and simple to use. We can tailor the optimum system for a ship wide application that is straightforward and economic.

We are exceptionally pleased that our sensors had such durability on MV Pompei, and we look forward to the new Tankview package having a similar lifespan.

Working closely with Thai Engineering & Services Co. Ltd, we are delighted to have been awarded the contract to supply our Tankstar 260 Series Marine Liquid Level Transmitters for the Royal Thai Navy, for their HTMS Trang Offshore Patrol Vessel.

The ship is currently under construction at Bangkok Dock Naval Yard and will join the HTMS Krabi as a second vessel of this design. Both vessels will be used to conduct routine patrols, border control and fishery protection, as well as being deployed for disaster relief operations and natural resources protection in the Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea.

Our 260 Series level transmitters are highly proven and fully compliant in the field, and are already in service on all four vessels of the UK Royal Navy’s River class design and subsequent variations, three vessels of the Omani Navy’s Khareef Class and three vessels of the Brazils’ Amazonas Class.

The 260 transmitter provides reliable and accurate monitoring of liquid levels in shipboard tanks and it’s robust construction affords low maintenance costs.

You can find out more about our Series 260 Level Transmitters here.

In a shift from our usual projects of tankers, trawlers, naval ships and offshore vessels, we are proud to have been selected to work on the restoration of the historic Superyacht ‘Malahne’.

The 50m classic ‘Malahne’ was relaunched earlier this year at Pendennis Shipyard, Falmouth, UK after a massive and meticulous 30 month restoration project, which has restored her to her original pre-war glory, yet at the same time fully modernising her.

Designed by Charles E Nicholson and built by Camper & Nicholsons in 1937, ‘Malahne’ is one of a small number of pre-war motor yachts to have survived until the 21st Century.

Nicholas Edmiston, Chairman of Edmiston & Company, had followed the chequered history of the yacht for decades and in his own words, “I was fortunate to interest an Owner who understood and embraced this vision, and who entrusted Edmiston to pull together a team that could bring Malahne back to life.” Nick subsequently organized a project team and shipyard, who shared the passion and transformed this dream into a reality.

We were chosen to work on this historic project to update the transmitters and switches on board for all service, fuel oil and fresh water tanks. The restoration required that the very highest quality materials were used throughout, and our approved transmitters and switches were selected based on their proven performance in the harshest of conditions.

The ‘Malahne’ has undergone one of the most meticulous restorations of all time, and we have been delighted to have played a role in this.

Chesapeake Shipbuilding contacted us because they needed a complete tank gauging system on their newest build for American Cruise Lines, the ‘America’.

The ‘America’ is American Cruise Lines’ latest paddlewheeler, designed with traditional Victorian-style accents, it elegantly blends a traditional appearance with modern features and amenities. While the new ship is adorned with gleaming woodwork, brass fixtures, and histoic decor, it is constructed with the latest in cruise ship technology.

We were able to install the VPM4300 central monitor which was partnered with sensors in a total of twenty tanks for fuel, potable water and sewage. This was an unusual installation for us as the VPM display is not usually intended for so many tanks. However, mounted in the Pilot House where space was at a premium, the VPM provided a compact but comprehensive display of the status of all the tanks, complete with visual and audible annunciation of any high or low level alarm conditions.

Little onboarding commissioning was required because Chesapeake provided us with tank sounding data, meaning the system could be despatched pre-configured to their requirements.

The ‘America’ set sale on her maiden voyage in May 2016 and we were delighted to have played a role in its build.