Dutch Heavy Transport Operators

Boskalis, another company that has been active for several years in the decommissioning market, successfully deployed its new crane vessel Bokalift 1 in the North Sea. The L10AD gas production platform was removed from the Dutch sector, while in the British sector, a series of old platforms were removed from the Viking and Vulcan fields. This removal work was carried out on behalf of ConocoPhillips. In the British sector for platform removal work, Seaway 7 deployed its crane vessel Seaway Strashnov to remove the ST-1 gas production platform, before transporting the topside and jacket to the Dales Voe terminal on the Shetlands, for dismantling by Veolia and Peterson n

MORE NEW HEAVY TRANSPORT RECORDS SET

by Paul Schaap, PAS Publicaties

The Dutch heavy transport companies, headed up by market leader Boskalis, continue to amaze the world with ever heavier and more complex transport projects. The world’s largest semi-submersible heavy transport vessel, the Boka Vanguard, which once again in 2019 continued to push boundaries, played an important role. Other Dutch companies operating in the heavy-lift transport market, including Jumbo Shipping and BigLift Shipping, also attracted much attention. In addition, Mammoet was able to strengthen its leading position, with the acquisition of ALE Heavy Lift.

In the past, the Boka Vanguard had been responsible for transporting the staggering 90,000-tonne FPSO P-67 from China to Brazil. At the end of 2019, as part of a similar project, this amazing feat was repeated. In this project, the new FPSO P-70, weighing 91,000 tonnes, also had to be transported from China to Brazil. This transport operation indeed further extended the world’s heavy transport record. Earlier in the year, the Boka Vanguard had already attracted much attention by transporting a 28,100-tonne topside module from South Korea to Norway, for the Johan Sverdrup project, a

The jack-up vessel Seajacks Zaratan was transported to Taiwan, on board the Mighty Servant 3. (Photograph: PAS Publicaties) journey that took two months. A world first was achieved in the Bahamas, with the on-loading of the more than 300 metre-long cruise ship Carnival Vista, via the float-on method. The azipods of this cruise ship had to be repaired and because no dry-dock facilities were available, the Boka Vanguard was used, instead. The other heavy transport vessels that make up the Boskalis fleet were also responsible for a series of remarkable transport operations in 2019. The Forte transported the Tango FLNG from China to Argentina, the Mighty Servant 3 carried the jackup vessel Seajacks Zaratan from Rotterdam to Taiwan and the White Marlin transported the floatel Endurance from Singapore to Norway. The Black Marlin also attracted attention by simultaneously transporting eighteen inland shipping vessel hulls and a crane barge from China to Rotterdam. Boskalis also completed transport work involving a series of jack-up and semi-submersible drilling rigs and dredging equipment. At the end of 2019, Boskalis reported that the high-end transport market was showing cautious signs of recovery, and that the company was at last becoming less dependent on the spot market. They were also able to sign more long-term transport contracts, including orders for transporting a number of large LNG modules from China to Russia. This particular contract represents two years of work for the heavy transport vessels Blue Marlin and Black Marlin, starting in the second quarter of 2021. A contract was also signed for

The Boka Vanguard with the FPSO P-67 en route from China to Brazil. (Photograph: Boskalis)

the White Marlin and the Black Marlin to transport two floating production systems from Singapore to the Gulf of Mexico in the period 2021-2022. Also in 2021, Boskalis will be transporting an FPSO from China to the North Sea.

As well as Boskalis, Red Box Energy Services is an active operator in the top segment of the heavy transport market, in particular for module transportation services for LNG projects in the Arctic. Red Box can call upon the Polar Class heavy transport vessels Audax and Pugnax for this specific work.

Heavy transports

Jumbo Shipping and Jumbo Offshore also hit the headlines in 2019. The heavy-lift vessel Fairplayer for example was deployed off the coast of Egypt to install a mooring system. This project involved the pre-installation and tensioning of a shallow CALM buoy mooring system at a depth of 26 metres, for the El-Hamra terminal. Last August, the Jumbo Kinetic transported four heavy columns to Saudi Arabia. Three were taken on board in Zhangjiagang in China and the fourth in Pyeongtaeh in South Korea. This fourth column, what is known as a wash tower, was more than 100 metres long, and weighed 1,929 tonnes. This was the heaviest cargo ever lifted by Jumbo. Jumbo Kinetic is equipped with two mast cranes, each with a lifting capacity of 1,500 tonnes, that are together capable of lifting loads up to a maximum of 3,000 tonnes. The Jumbo Kinetic was also deployed to transport all twenty transition pieces for the Formosa 1 Phase 2 Offshore Wind Farm from Thailand to Taichung Port in Taiwan. The transition pieces, each weighing 462 tonnes, were transferred in three shipments. These were the heaviest, tallest and largest transition pieces ever transported by Jumbo.

At the end of 2019, the Jumbo Jubilee completed the first shipment of four monopiles from Norderham in Germany, to Taiwan. In total, Jumbo will be transporting 40 complete monopiles and 120 monopile segments, as well as 40 transition pieces to Taiwan, as part of the Yunlin offshore wind project. All together, this will be the largest transport contract in Jumbo’s history. The company will also be involved in the installation of the transition pieces in the Yunlin Offshore Wind Farm. Elsewhere, Jumbo has signed a contract with Taqa for the removal, transportation and disposal of three subsea protection domes and piles, each weighing 150 tonnes, from the P15 block in the Dutch sector of the North Sea. The company will be deploying

the Fairplayer for this work. In 2020, Jumbo will be taking delivery of the Stella Synergy, 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.

Just like Jumbo, BigLift Shipping, a member of the Spliethoff Group, also completed a series of transport operations in 2019, involving large modules, columns and installation work. However, most attention was focused on this operator’s module carriers. The BigLift Baffin and BigLift Barentsz, for example, were chartered to transport a series of large Kone cranes, each weighing 1,494 tonnes, from Nantong in China to Savannah in the United States. These cranes had a hangover of 60 metres on the port side and 36 metres on the starboard side. In 2019, BigLift signed a collaborative venture with Chung Yang Shipping according to which both operators agreed to deploy their two module carriers, the BigLift Baffin and BigLift Barentsz from BigLift, and the CY Interocean I and CY Interocean II from Chung Yang. BigLift Shipping will be responsible for commercial deployment of the four module carriers among others for transporting components for wind turbines.

Jumbo will soon be taking delivery of the Stella Synergy. (Illustration: Jumbo)

The module carrier CY Interocean I is currently managed by BigLift Shipping. (Photograph: BigLift) In other news from the heavy-lift sector, the Spliethoff Group acquired no less than ten vessels from Hansa Heavy Lift. The vessels in question are four multipurpose tween deck vessels that were rechristened Hudsongracht, Humbergracht, Heerengracht and Houtmangracht, and six heavy-lift vessels that were renamed Prinsengracht, Pietergracht, Pijlgracht, Poolgracht, Pauwgracht and Paleisgracht. All these vessels have now been brought under the Dutch flag. Spliethoff has also ordered the construction in China of two special transport vessels. Following completion, they will be launched and christened Brouwersgracht and Bloemgracht. Both will be equipped with two mast cranes, each with a lifting capacity of 500 tonnes.

Crane operators

ALE confirmed its reputation in 2019 with a series of projects for the offshore oil and gas industry. At the start of the year, eight heavy modules weighing up to 1,820 tonnes each were transported to Singapore, where they were installed on board the FPSO Liza Destiny. During this same period, at a yard in Mexico, a 13,000 topside was raised fourteen metres using the company’s own Mega Jack system, and placed on a jacket. The complete structure was then placed on board a seagoing transport barge. In September, ALE was responsible for an 18,000-tonne topside load-out and float-over operation in Zhuhai in China, and this was followed at the end of 2019 by the load-out of a 131 metre-high jacket, that weighed in at 12,733 tonnes. Strandjacks were deployed to place this load on a transport barge.

In July 2019, heavy-lift and transport specialist Mammoet announced discussions with ALE Heavy Lift, about a possible acquisition. At the start of 2020, this eventually resulted in the complete absorption into Mammoet of the company ALE, that was originally established in the United Kingdom, in 1983. The result of this acquisition is the establishment of the world’s largest global provider of engineered heavylifting and transport services. At the start of 2019, Mammoet had in fact also entered into a partnership with Astro Offshore, which considerably expanded the company’s tug and barge services in the Middle East n