How do you stop a newly launched ship from running aground on the opposite bank, when the river is only 50 metres wider than the ship is long? Simple - you tie an elastic band to the end closest to the launching side.
This was the unique solution adopted when Unicorn Tankers' new vessel Engen Rainbow was successfully launched at the Szczecin Shipyard in Poland on 10 August.
Four stout bungee ropes were secured to the Engen Rainbow, along with special brackets incorporating a quick-release system. When the ship entered the water from the slipway she had already reached a speed of 15 knots - her normal service speed, and anchors would not have been capable of stopping the vessel before it ran aground on the opposite side. On the other hand the bungee ropes had to be released at the precise moment the vessel came to a halt, or she might have returned from whence she came.
In the event everything worked like clockwork and the 183 metre long ship - the biggest vessel to be built at Szczecin Shipyard wince WW2 which required a special slipway to be built because of its breadth of 32,2 metres - successfully came to rest in midstream.
Engen Rainbow is the first of two vessels being built in Poland for Unicorn and Engen. Her sister ship, Engen Simunye will be launched in October.
