Ships with larger lift capacity in demand

Bigger is often better, the project cargo operators are finding. Demand for larger vessels of up to 2,000 tonne lift is growing, particularly in the energy sector, reports Europe Correspondent Phil Hastings


A growing demand for larger capacity vessels to transport offshore energy industry project cargo - for example to the huge Gorgon natural gas fields being developed off the coast of Australia - is increasingly influencing the fleet development plans of leading heavy lift shipping operators.


Current prominent examples of companies in that category include SAL Schiffahrtskontor Altes Land, a German joint venture between the families of Heinrich and Rolner and Japanese global shipping and transport group "K'' Line; Beluga Shipping, also based in Germany; and two Dutch operators, Dockwise and Fairstar Heavy Transport.


SAL put the first of a planned two new 2,000-tonne lifting capacity vessels - said to be the largest heavy lift ships in the world - into service in mid-December. The second vessel is due to be delivered in March this year. Both ships will be equipped with two 1,000-tonne SWL (safe working load) capacity cranes, have a hold of 107.1 x 17 x 13.7m and deck space of 128.5 x 27.5m.


SAL confirmed that one of the core business segments for the first ship, the Svenja, would be offshore energy industry cargo. "We are expecting further growth in that sector," said SAL managing director and co-owner Lars Rolner. "We see demand worldwide and forecast that the market will grow dynamically over the next few years." He added that the Svenja was equipped with a dynamic positioning system, "making it perfectly suited for employment in the oil, gas and wind offshore sectors".


Expanding on the economic case for SAL's huge new ships, "K' Line president and chief executive officer Kenichi Kuroya said recently that as far as offshore industry customers were concerned, it was a case of "the larger, the better and the cheaper".


To reinforce that point, he quoted the example of project cargo movements involving heavy underwater base blocks for wind turbines being installed offshore. "If we have only a 500-tonne capacity heavy lift vessel, it means taking three or four blocks to the site and connecting them on the spot to create a heavy base. If a ship can carry heavier weights, it saves a lot of work."


Beluga Shipping, which added four P2-series multipurpose heavy lift project cargo carriers with combined crane lift capacities of 1,400 tonnes to its fleet during 2010, recently revealed it was now looking at introducing a new P3-series class of vessel with a combined crane capacity of 2,000 tonnes and "extra, extra large holds".


"The market conditions for such carriers have significantly improved over the last 18 months, allowing us to further extend our position in the global project and heavy lift niche segment," said Beluga president and chief executive officer Niels Stolberg. "They will attract much interest in the offshore oil and gas business."

To illustrate the size of offshore project cargo items which Beluga is already asked to move for the offshore energy industry and the challenges associated with such operations, Stolberg quoted the example of very large submerged turret and production buoy (STP) shipped from Indonesia to an offshore destination in the Gulf of Mexico.


"The size of the buoy exceeded that of many conventional ships - it weighed 1,100 tonnes and was 27m high," he explained. The loading of that item had required "absolute precision and detailed preparations". Specifically, the centre of gravity of the buoy had been altered and asymmetrically turned.


Another challenge, said Stolberg, was that during the transport across the Pacific Ocean and passage through the Panama Canal to the offshore destination the gigantic dimensions of the cargo had diminished the view from the ship's bridge. "In order to compensate for this, Beluga implemented various measures, for example additional safety instruments and structural modifications."


Dockwise last year confirmed its intention to build a new semi-submersible mono-hull vessel, which would be considerably bigger than its current largest ship. Projected to cost around US$200 million and scheduled for delivery in the latter part of 2012, the new-design vessel will have a deck size of 275 x 70m and the capacity to handle ocean transports of more than 100,000 tonnes.

Dockwise confirmed the decision to go for such a large vessel had been influenced by changing oil and gas industry requirements.


"Current trends for projects and equipment in that industry are distinctly towards greater scale and size for premier projects," explained the company. "Industry demand is for larger, heavier equipment, in single transportable modules."


Fairstar last year ordered two new 50,000 deadweight tonne, open stern, semi-submersible vessels, costing just over $00 million each, from Guangzhou Shipyards International (GSI) in China for delivery in 2012.


Explaining the background to that move, Fairstar chief executive officer Philip Adkins suggested there would be an industry shortage of the right type of vessels to meet offshore industry project requirements over the next five years. As a result, prospects for the premium end of that market looked very good.


"One of our new ships on order is already committed to the Gorgon project in Australia and the other is already involved in six different tenders," he added.
(Source:http://www.cargonewsasia.com)