Offshore staff
ROTTERDAM, the Netherlands – Jumbo has transported the first of two flexible pipelay towers to Okpo, South Korea, for client Real/Imeca.
Imeca has developed the flexible pipelay system for the Technip Oderbracht joint venture’s newpipelay support vessels. Petrobras has chartered the vessels to install umbilical and flexible flowlines and risers to connect subsea wells to floating production units in waters up to 2,500 m (8,202 ft) offshore Brazil.
Jumbo performed four voyages, and was also responsible for engineering of a suitable outrigger frame to handle the shipments. The initial phase involved collection of the first of two base structures from Gydnia, Poland, using a chartered vessel.
On arrival at Imeca’s base in western France, the base structure was positioned in a specially reinforced area within the port of La Rochelle.Jumbo Jubilee then picked up the second base structure from Gdynia, again for delivery to La Rochelle. Following discharge, the vessel subsequently collected and transported the completed 1,600-ton tower to Okpo.
According to Jumbo, loading the fully outfitted tower presented two main challenges – one was lifting a 1,600-ton unit at an outreach of 17 m (56 ft); the other was the location of the port, which is exposed to swell.
Because of the tower’s height and weight, it was positioned on the vessel’s tank top, which was strong enough to safely distribute the 1,600-ton load on a relatively small footprint. Transportation was also made possible by the J-class vessel’s ability to sail with open hatches.
On arrival in South Korea, the tower was unloaded by the shipyard’s own floating crane and now awaits installation onboard the newpipelay support vessel.
9/19/2013
