For Junior Engineering Inspector Michael Højbjerg, the chance to join the A2SEA site office in Qidong, China, where SEA CHALLENGER is under construction, was an exciting opportunity to (literally) get deep into the workings of the new, second-generation vessel.

With a recently won Bachelor of Technology Management and Marine Engineering under his belt, and six months of writing his thesis on the topic of SEA INSTALLER’s cooling systems, Michael set off for the Far East. Never having set foot in China, many new experiences awaited him.

When the vessel is completed, Michael will join the crew of SEA CHALLENGER as a regular junior engineer – and he may also have a role to play on her sister ship, SEA INSTALLER.

“Down here, my main purpose is to obtain as much knowledge as I can about the vessel’s jacking system and related hydraulic systems, so that when I start on board as crew I will be ready to take care of its operation.”

A typical day for Michael is spent half in the office and half on the vessel itself, starting with a coordination meeting. When the meeting is over, everyone goes out to inspect their particular areas. “If I see they are installing new components, I check to see if the protection is adequate, what the components are for, and how they are going to be combined.” If there are no scheduled inspections, Michael does a round on the vessel to learn as much as possible about other aspects of SEA CHALLENGER.

“Outside working hours, probably the most challenging thing for me is to live alone in an environment completely different from my country of origin. It’s strange because Qidong is a city of just over a million, but it is really just a village in Chinese terms. So there’s not much to do and not much of an international community.”

“Also, most of the locals don’t speak any English. So many of us have hobbies of some kind. I’m building a model ship in my spare time – the old Bismarck. It’s almost 1.5 metres long with around 2000 parts. While it doesn’t give me a break from shipbuilding, you might say, it should keep me busy after work for the next couple of months.”

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