How Posidonia Solved MSC Cruises' Hawsepipe Space Constraint

Project Summary

Client: MSC Cruises, for the cruise ship MSC Orchestra (92,409 GT).
The challenge: Supply a high-tonnage anchor capable of guaranteeing maximum safety for a large vessel, while fitting a hawsepipe (the anchor's housing) with extremely tight clearances.
The solution: Design and supply of an 11.5-tonne HHP Compact anchor with articulated flukes, custom-built with a shortened shank.
The results: A 25% saving in overall weight and bulk, with an additional 10% reduction in the space occupied in the hawsepipe, while maintaining top safety certifications (BV, RINA, and Lloyd's Register).

The challenge: extreme safety in confined spaces

Ensuring the safety of a cruise ship almost 300 metres long with a gross tonnage of over 92,000 GT requires massive, fail-safe anchoring systems. During the 2017 refit, MSC Orchestra required a new main anchor. The vessel had been widened and lengthened, and this change in dimensions increased its Equipment Number (EN), calling for a heavier anchor.

The engineering team faced a significant obstacle: the ship needed a very heavy anchor to safely handle the required loads, but the space available inside the hawsepipe remained unchanged and was extremely tight.

Fitting a conventional anchor of the required size would have caused serious stowage problems and potential interference with manoeuvring, forcing the shipyard to consider costly structural modifications to the ship's bow. MSC needed a supplier capable of delivering exceptional holding power within a very compact envelope.

The solution: bespoke engineering for maximum holding power

Posidonia met this specific engineering requirement not by simply supplying a standard "mass-type" anchor, but by designing a highly specialised solution in-house at its Novi Ligure workshop. The choice fell on the 11.5-tonne HHP (High Holding Power) Compact anchor, a concentrate of marine mechanical engineering.

This special model with articulated flukes was designed with two side plates that enable deep penetration into the seabed, acting in different directions and giving the system superior strength and holding power. To address MSC Orchestra's space constraints with surgical precision, Posidonia also customised the design by shortening the anchor shank by 10%, creating a profile perfectly suited to slide into and stow within the ship's narrow hawsepipe without any friction.

The results: space efficiency and International Certifications

The installation of the HHP Compact anchor brilliantly solved MSC Orchestra's dimensional problem, avoiding any further structural modification to the vessel. Thanks to its high-holding-power design, Posidonia was able to guarantee the same holding force as a much larger conventional anchor, allowing the ship to save 25% in overall weight and bulk.

The additional reduction in shank length definitively optimised stowage in the hawsepipe, ensuring smooth and safe anchor-weighing operations. Confirming the absolute reliability of both the product and the manufacturing process, the custom anchor designed for MSC Orchestra passed rigorous operational tests, achieving full certification from the international classification societies Bureau Veritas (BV), RINA, and Lloyd's Register.

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