Raising Dock No. 5
As part of the project “Incredible Port”
In the history of the Port of Odesa, there are events that resemble maritime epics rather than routine operations. One of them is the story of raising Dock No. 5 – a massive steel structure that lay on the seabed, seemingly taking with it the legacy of a once-renowned ship repair yard.
At one time, the Ship Repair Yard “Ukraine” was a powerful and advanced enterprise, a source of pride for the industry. However, with the onset of perestroika, everything changed. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the decline of the Black Sea Shipping Company, the yard suddenly lost its main client. Production links were broken, debts began to grow, and management changed repeatedly. Workshops gradually fell into disrepair, equipment was lost, and highly skilled specialists left the company. Young professionals no longer came. Within just a few years, the once-thriving enterprise had effectively turned into ruins.
In 2006, in an effort to revive the national ship repair sector, industry leadership made a strategic decision to integrate the yard into the Port of Odesa. At that time, the company’s debts had reached 30 million hryvnias. However, the port’s management achieved what seemed almost impossible: within six months, they cleared the debts and retained the remaining specialists.
On April 1, 2007, the yard was given a new life as a division of the state enterprise “Odesa Sea Commercial Port” under the name “Shipyard ‘Ukraine’”. Operations gradually resumed, but the technical condition of the docking facilities remained challenging. Docks No. 2 and No. 4 required major repairs, while the largest one – Dock No. 5 – had sunk in September 2005.
Dock No. 5 was a true giant: 217 meters long, 40 meters wide, with a displacement of about 9,500 tonnes. To put this into perspective, it was comparable in size to a football field alongside two five-storey steel buildings.
While law enforcement authorities were investigating the cause of the sinking, the Head of the Port of Odesa, Mykola Pavliuk, made a decision that many considered nearly impossible – to raise the dock. This became one of the key elements of the development program for the Shipyard.
The task seemed almost unreal. Raising a floating dock is one of the most complex operations in marine engineering. During lifting, water pressure changes rapidly, and the steel structure can deform or even break apart, sending the dock back to the seabed. It is no surprise that such successful operations had rarely been carried out over the previous 50 years.
Following a tender, the port selected a specialized company from Mykolaiv with experience in complex lifting operations and the capability to take on this high-risk project.
On October 25, 2007, preparations began. Divers first inspected the sunken dock. This was followed by sealing the damage, measuring hull thickness, and conducting detailed engineering calculations. A specialized design bureau used computer modelling to assess all loads and potential risks.
The most difficult stage was the actual underwater repair. Divers restored air, ventilation, and ballast systems directly underwater. In total, around 300 dives were carried out – sometimes under ice, and at times through layers of fuel.
On March 14, 2008, the installation of special equipment designed specifically for this operation began. It is known that when lifting an object from the seabed, its effective weight increases by about one and a half times due to the so-called suction effect. To overcome this, engineers applied an additional air supply system and used a powerful PS-1200 pontoon.
At 10:00 on March 15, the decisive stage began. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the steel giant started to lift off the seabed. Seven hours of intense work – with no margin for error. And then it happened: after seven hours, the massive dock reached the surface.
It was a true victory of engineering, experience, and human determination. According to experts, the raising of Dock No. 5 became a unique event in the global maritime industry – an operation without parallel in recent decades.
The story of raising Dock No. 5 has become another remarkable chapter in the history of the Port of Odesa, once again proving that there are no impossible tasks here – only those that require courage, professionalism, and well-considered decisions. It is stories like this that shape the true character of the port – remarkable in both spirit and capability.
