KTH 'Refloats' £15M Super Yacht with £90 Spare Part....................7BACK ____________________________________________________________________________________

When super yacht Liberty ran into trouble in the Mediterranean, it was marine hydraulics specialist KT Hydraulics that came to the rescue.

KTH, who are more accustomed to the design and installation of complex hydraulic systems on naval vessels, tankers and bulk carriers were not surprised to receive a call from a ship’s captain experiencing technical difficulties, except that in this case captain Simon Clarke was the skipper of a multi million pound, luxury yacht.

The Liberty, built in 1997 by Perini Navi in Italy and currently offered for sale at a price estimated to be in the region of £15 million, was in fact experiencing difficulties with her keel lifting system. At just over 171 feet in length and with a beam measuring some 37 feet the Liberty has a draught of nearly 27 feet and therefore needs to raise her keel to enter the majority of ports.

Managing director of KT Hydraulics, Paul Firth takes up the story. “The keel lifting operation on board the Liberty is controlled by Kracht Volutronic flowmeters, which effectively ensure that the hydraulic lifters act in synchronisation and raise the keel evenly. Simon was experiencing problems with these sensors and had got straight on the ‘phone to us, as European distributors of Kracht marine spares.

Once we got over the initial surprise of Simon’s call it was a simple job to despatch the necessary parts by overnight carrier. Within 24 hours of her captain’s initial call the Liberty was back in service providing her very own brand of high performance luxury sailing.

When you consider that the Liberty is chartered out at a rate of over £15,000 per day, our part in despatching a £90 spare part in order to keep her sailing really is a drop in the ocean!”

As specialists in the design and manufacture of complex hydraulic systems KT Hydraulics has built a worldwide reputation for its work in the shipping and offshore energy industry and its engineers are currently engaged on projects across the globe.

The full range of projects covered by KT Hydraulics includes such diverse industries as food, oil and gas, marine and even Formula One motor racing through the supply of products including valves, flow meters and pumps.

A rapid response by KT Hydraulics in supplying the necessary parts to the Liberty was essential with a yacht of this type commanding a daily charter in excess of £15,000. w