We carry out marine refrigeration repair and compressor overhauls on board: alongside in port, during a yard stay or at sea, with our engineer sailing with the vessel. We are based in Rumia near Gdynia, so we most often work in Gdynia and Gdansk, and also in Szczecin. We regularly travel to Rotterdam, Hamburg and Bremerhaven, to Norway, France, Spain and the UK, and occasionally to the USA and Asia, sending engineers and spare parts wherever the ship is.

Marine refrigeration repair: common faults

A vessel that cannot sail because its provision plant, air conditioning or cargo hold cooling has failed loses money every hour, and on a time charter it may go off-hire. So when a breakdown is reported, we first narrow down the cause from the crew’s data, then plan the engineer’s trip with the right parts to meet the vessel’s ETA at her next port. We also repair reefer container units. The faults we see most often:

high discharge pressure and HP cut-outs: a fouled or scaled seawater-cooled condenser, poor seawater flow or non-condensables in the system,
low suction pressure and LP cut-outs: refrigerant shortage after a leak, an iced evaporator or a faulty expansion valve,
oil pressure failure: oil diluted with refrigerant, foaming after standstill, a worn oil pump,
knocking and vibration: worn bearings, broken valve plates, liquid slugging,
loss of capacity: leaking valves and rings in a reciprocating compressor, or a stuck capacity slide valve in a screw compressor,
shaft seal leaks on open-type compressors such as Sabroe,
motor trips: winding insulation breakdown; after a motor burnout in a semi-hermetic compressor the oil and system are acidic and must be cleaned up,
false alarms and controller faults: failed sensors and pressure transmitters or an outdated controller. In that case an upgrade of the marine refrigeration controls is worth considering.

How to report a breakdown

The more we know at the start, the faster we find the cause and bring the right parts. Please send:

vessel name or IMO number, port and ETA, and the agent’s contact,
which plant has failed (provision plant or air conditioning) and the refrigerant,
compressor make, model and serial number, ideally a photo of the nameplate,
alarm codes, suction and discharge pressures, room temperatures,
photos or a short video, and what the crew has already checked.

Call the number in the page header or send the details through our contact form. If we cannot answer straight away, we will call you back.

Marine compressor overhauls: scope of work

We overhaul Sabroe, Bitzer, Bock, York, Carrier, Daikin, Frascold, Dorin and Hanbell screw and reciprocating compressors used in provision plants, air conditioning and cargo hold cooling. The work is done on board, in the engine room, including at sea, or in our workshop in Rumia. The scope covers:

replacement of bearings, shafts, valve plates and shaft seals, and machining of parts,
vibration measurements and laser alignment of compressor and motor,
oil acidity analysis (POE and mineral oil) and motor insulation resistance testing with a megger,
chemical and mechanical cleaning of seawater-cooled shell-and-tube condensers.

After the overhaul the compressor is run unloaded and under load, and the measurements go into our service report. When overhauling an old compressor no longer makes sense, because parts are unavailable or the system runs on a phased-out refrigerant, we propose a replacement compressor and an R404A or R22 retrofit. If the whole cold room is worn out, not just the plant, see provision plant and provision rooms.

Riding squads: repairs at sea

When the vessel cannot wait in port, our engineer joins in one port, repairs or upgrades the plant during the voyage and signs off in the next. The ship keeps trading, stays on charter and needs no yard stay. Ports of joining and leaving and the dates are agreed with the owner and the agent.

Example: in-transit retrofit

On a cargo vessel at sea we replaced two worn Daikin compressors in the provision plant with new Bitzer semi-hermetic units, fitted oil separators and new Danfoss controls, and converted both circuits to R449A. On the air conditioning plant we recovered the phased-out R422D, changed the oil and cleaned the evaporator. After a nitrogen leak test and evacuation to 500 microns, the provision plant ran steadily at an evaporating temperature of -27°C, and the owner avoided a yard stay. Full details: in-transit HVAC retrofit case study.

Regulations for refrigeration repairs

Before opening a compressor or circuit we recover the refrigerant into cylinders instead of venting it. The company holds an F-gas certificate (no13KFCH), and every technician holds a personal F-gas certificate and Polish SEP electrical qualifications. Since September 2026 our quality management system has been certified to ISO 9001:2015. On ships still running on R22, an ozone-depleting substance, every recharge, repair and recovery must be entered in the Ozone-depleting Substances Record Book, as required by MARPOL Annex VI, Regulation 12. After the repair we leak-test the system and state the refrigerant quantity in our report, so the crew can record it. Fleet-wide leak checks and F-gas records are covered by our marine F-gas compliance service.

Report a breakdown or plan an overhaul

A breakdown on board, or a compressor overhaul to plan for the next port call? Send us the details or call the number in the page header.

Global Service & Marine Compressor Overhauls