Leading role in the heavy transport market

Just as in the previous year, in 2018, market leader Dockwise once again succeeded in completing a series of ground-breaking heavy transport projects. Parent company Royal Boskalis Westminster, that took over Dockwise in 2013, decided in April 2018 to continue the activities of Dockwise under the brand name Boskalis. There was also news from the project cargo segment, where Dutch companies carried out a series of remarkable projects. Major players in this segment were BigLift Shipping and Jumbo Shipping.

The name change from Dockwise to Boskalis also resulted in a rechristening of the flagship of the company, and also the largest heavy transport vessel in the world, the Dockwise Vanguard, to the Boka Vanguard. Once again in 2018, this remarkable vessel was responsible for a series of transport operations. In July, she set a new world record by transporting the 90,000-tonne semisubmersible oil production vessel P-67 from Qingdao in China to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The P-67 was due to be deployed for the production, storage and transhipment of oil from the Brazilian Lula field. Another impressive project successfully completed at the beginning of this year

involved the transport of the massive topside of Equinor’s Johan Sverdrup processing platform. This behemoth, weighing 28,100 tonnes, was transported from South Korea to Norway. Another of the Boskalis heavy transport vessels, the Black Marlin, carried two topside modules each weighing around 10,000 tonnes from South Korea to Norway, as part of Equinor’s Martin Linge project. For its part, Boskalis organised the transport of a total of 36 steel jackets, each weighing 1,000 tonnes, from the Lamprell yard in Jebel Ali to the BOW terminal in Flushing. This work was undertaken by two heavy transport vessels including the Mighty Servant 1. In Flushing, the jackets

On board the Boka Vanguard, the enormous Johan Sverdrup process module was transported from South Korea to Norway. (Photograph: Equinor)

were transferred to the Bokalift 1, and subsequently installed in the British East Anglia One Offshore Wind Farm. Elsewhere, the Forte transported the topsides for the central processing platform and the wellhead platform from Singapore to the Culzean field in the British sector of the North Sea, and Exmar’s Tango FLNG from China to Bahia Blanca in Argentina. A project undertaken by the Talisman involved the transport of three steel doors for the world’s largest sea lock currently under construction in IJmuiden, from South Korea to the Netherlands. Each door weighed in at 2,900 tonnes. Finally, a series of operations were undertaken to transport drilling rigs, dredging equipment and various other floating objects.

Boskalis has now signed new contracts for the transport of a large number of modules from a location in Asia to North America, where a new LNG factory is currently under construction. The company will be deploying two heavy transport vessels for this task. Another newly acquired contract involves a float-over operation off the coast of Malaysia of the topside for the Bokor central processing platform. When the six-monthly figures were presented on 16 August 2018, Boskalis announced its decision to shut

down its lossmaking low-end transport activities, which will result in the company disposing of ten T and S-class heavy transport vessels. The market leader in the field now plans to focus fully on acquiring a more solid position in the upper segment of the heavy transport and installation market.

Module carriers Red Box Energy Services grasped the opportunity last year to boost its reputation with the transport of an impressive series of LNG plant modules, which included deliveries via the Northern Sea Route to the Yamal Peninsula in Northern Russia. These transport operations were undertaken by the Audax and Pugnax, both built as ice-class vessels, and the even larger Red Zed 1 and Red Zed 2.

BigLift Shipping and BigRoll Shipping attracted considerable attention with the deployment of four of their MC-class module carriers. During the first quarter of the year, a total of four transport runs were undertaken carrying large crane sections intended for the world’s largest semi-submersible crane vessel Sleipnir, currently under construction on behalf of Heerema Marine Contractors in Singapore. To start with, the BigLift Baffin made two trips between Xiamen in China

The Black Marlin operated by Boskalis carrying two large Martin Lingetopsides, en route to Norway. (Photograph: Flying Focus)

and Singapore carrying two luffing frames, each weighing 1,143 tonnes and two crane booms, each with a weight of 1,480 tonnes. This was followed by two trips by the BigRoll Beaufort carrying two crane houses each weighing 2,443 tonnes and two 1,140-tonne winch rooms. All these crane parts had been fabricated at the Huisman yard in Xiamen. In September, the BigLift Barentsz set sail from Xiamen carrying parts for a 5,000-tonne crane also built by Huisman, intended for installation on board the Pioneering Spirit, operated by Allseas. These crane parts were transported to Rotterdam, via the Northern Sea Route. At the end of October, the BigLift Barentsz set sail from Flushing for a transport run to West Africa, laden down with the 11,760-tonne jack-up drilling rig Exomna. Other MC-class module carriers were deployed to transport a series of cargoes, including container cranes. The other vessels operated by BigLift Shipping completed a number of remarkable transport operations. In March 2018, for example, the Happy Dover carried a jack-up platform weighing more than 500 tonnes from Rotterdam to La Reunion, while the Happy Delta took a drilling installation from Rotterdam to Lulea in Sweden, on behalf of National Oilwell Varco. In April, the Happy Star was deployed to transport a Vertical Lay System (VLS) weighing 1,150 tonnes, and fabricated by Huisman, from Schiedam to Suape in Brazil. Later in the year, the Happy Star made the return journey to Schiedam, to have its two heavy lift mast cranes upgraded from 900 to 1,100 tonnes. In tandem, these cranes are now able to load and unload weights of up to 2,200 tonnes. Following the upgrading operation, the Happy Star set sail for Porto Marghera in Italy to take on board two large reactors, each weighing 1,500 tonnes. In August, the Happy Sky carried eight drilling modules, intended for use on the Peregrino II project, from Norway to Brazil. The ships of BigLift Shipping also completed a series of transport operations carrying ship uploaders, container cranes and wind turbine components.

On board the BigLift Barentsz, the jack-up drilling rig Exomnawas transported from Flushing to West Africa.(Photograph: PAS Publicaties/maritimephoto.com)

Jumbo Shipping/Jumbo Offshore were once again in the news in 2018. The Stella Synergy, currently under construction in China on behalf of Jumbo, will be the world’s largest X-bow vessel, based on a design by Ulstein Design and Solutions. This new dp2 heavy-lift crane vessel will be equipped with two Huisman cranes with a lifting capacity of 2,500 and 400 tonnes, respectively. The 185 metre-long and 36 metre-wide vessel is due to be handed over in 2020. The main crane will be equipped with active heave compensation, and is suitable for deployment in water depths of up to 3,000 metres.

During the course of 2018, the Jumbo Kinetic was deployed to carry heavy E-house modules, fabricated in China. Another special project undertaken by this vessel was the transport of a 1,200-tonne turret buoy mooring system from Dubai to Lerwick on the Shetland Islands, for use in the Lancaster development project, by Hurricane Energy. Following unloading in Lerwick, the system was towed to the Lancaster field by the two seagoing tugs Union Lynx and Union Bear, both operated by Boskalis. During the first half of 2019, the Bluewater Energy Systems’ FPSO Aoka Mizu will be connected to this buoy, for use as an early production system. In Lagos, the Jumbo Javelin collected a 100-tonne calcium nitrate injection vessel module that was installed on the Erha FPSO off the coast of Nigeria, by one of the Javelin’s own cranes equipped with a fly jib. In October, the Fairmaster took on board

16 ultra heavy petrochemical columns, with a total weight of 6,695 tonnes, for subsequent transport from Taiwan to Formosa. The heaviest column was 105 metres long, and weighed 1,720 tonnes. Following on from successes in the previous year, in 2018 Jumbo Offshore once acquired a series of new installation contracts, the first of which for Shell’s deepwater Vito development project in the Gulf of Mexico. This contract involves the initial pre-lay of the mooring system as well as the subsequent tow and hook-up of the floating production system. On behalf of Sapura, Jumbo will be responsible in Malaysia for the transportation and installation of an FSRU mooring system, including riser and umbilical, that will be installed off the coast of Aracaju in Brazil. Among the vessels deployed for this Sergipe project will be the Fairplayer. Another contract for Jumbo involves the installation of a 410-tonne subsea production manifold at a depth of 1,643 metres, for

The BigLift Baffin laden down with a luffing frame and booms intendedfor HMC’s SSCV Sleipnir. (Photograph: BigLift Shipping)

the Leviathan development project off the coast of Israel. As part of this contract, a series of SSIVs and valve skids will have to be installed at a water depth of 86 metres. Jumbo is also responsible for the transport of a variety of equipment for this project from the US Gulf Coast to the Eastern Mediterranean. One installation project successfully completed in 2018 involved the transport and installation of the mooring system for the Mohishkhali floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in Bangladesh.

Crane operators In 2018, Mammoet started on the installation of a new Goliath crane at the Meyer Turku Shipyard in Finland. This crane, the largest Goliath crane in Northern Europe, has a lifting capacity of 1,200 tonnes, a span of 154 metres and a height of 120 metres. At the start of this year, a further contract was signed for the transport, lifting and installation of all the heavy parts for a large new refinery in Nigeria. Mammoet also decided to open new offices in Teesside in the UK, to allow the company to respond efficiently to the expected growth in activities. One interesting project completed last year was the shallow water installation of offshore wind turbines at Nissum Bredning in the Bay of Thyborøn. This project involved the deployment of a large barge carrying a land-based crane. Finally, in the course of last year, Mammoet once again completed a series of load-out operations involving topsides and jackets, as well as organising the heavy lifting, up-ending, weighing, transport and load-out of the jackets for the East Anglia ONE offshore windfarm at Lamprell’s Jebel Ali, Hamriyah and Sjarjah yards in the United Arab Emirates.

Artist’s impression of the heavy-lift crane vessel Stella Synergy due tobe launched by Jumbo in 2020. (Illustration: Jumbo Shipping)

At the start of last year, ALE transported and installed seven transformers, each weighing 225 tonnes, that were intended for the Nordlink project in Tonstad in Norway. Equally spectacular was the load-out of two modules with a combined weight of over 20,000 tonnes for the Martin Linge platform project in South Korea. For the first time, a heavy-duty jib was deployed on an AL.SK350 crane for lifting a 1,276-tonne FPSO module, in Nigeria. ALE was then awarded the contract to install six large modules on the FPSO Egina in Lagos, using the world’s largest capacity land-based crane. The heaviest module weighed in at 2,810 tonnes. In August 2018, using its Mega Jack System, ALE jacked up a 13,000-tonne topside in Mexico, to a height of fourteen metres. Finally, a unique new modular transport frame was developed in-house, specifically for carrying transition pieces in marshalling ports. The system will be deployed on a new transition piece carrier n