SPECIAL REPORT: Construction start nears for concrete-hull, heavy-lift vessel

April 23, 2007

To satisfy demand for new lifting capacity for offshore decommissioning and installation, MPU Offshore Lift ASA in July will begin construction of a concrete hull vessel at the Keppel Verolme dry-dock in Rotterdam.

MPU says the vessel has been tailor made for single-lift removal and installation of platforms in the North Sea and elsewhere (Fig. 1). For MPU this concludes 8 years of conceptual development, model tank testing, design, and verifications.

MPU expects its concrete-hull, heavy-lift vessel to leave the yard in July 2009 (Fig. 1).Click here to enlarge image

Since mid-December, MPU has worked together with Van Hattum en Blankevoort BV (VHB) to test and document the lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC) for the hull. MPU says a mock-up test under supervision of Sintef in Norway and Intron and the University of Delft in the Netherlands was successful.

Contractors for construction of the concrete hull, €55 million portion of the project are a joint venture of VHB and BAM Civiel BV.

MPU signed the first €165 million contract for outfitting the vessel in December 2006 with Keppel Verolme BV. MPU says detail design and engineering are on schedule for vessel delivery from the yard in mid-January 2009.