Lisnave Continues To Set Trends
Despite the intended reorganization of Lisnave, which will eventually lead to the closure of the large Margueira shipyard near Lisbon, business at Lisnave has continued to set trends. The company has won contracts from shipowners located in 26 different countries — Norway, U.K. and U.S. being the most dominant — and the Margueira yard is boasting in excess of 90 percent drydock occupancy so far this year.
The most significant contract still at the yard involves the 137,159- dwt storage unit Serepca 1. Owned by Elf Exploration (Cameroon), part of Elf Aquataine, she is at the yard for drydocking, which comprises 800 tons of steel renewal and general repairs. She arrived at the yard during mid-May after being towed from Cameroon to Lisnave and is expected to leave during early-October 1998.
Previous to the ship docking at Lisnave, yard workers carried out voyage repairs before she entered drydock.
The aim of this repair operation is to extend Serepca Vs life as a storage vessel for an additional seven years. With regards to the repair work, it was originally estimated that some 40 tons of steel was needed to be replaced in the ballast tanks, but on further inspection, the owners and classification society decided to renew 800 tons in the cargo tanks. Lisnave carried out internal tank cleaning, followed by 17-day de-slopping and gas-freeing operations at a cleaning station. This change in repair work extended the vessel's visit at Lisnave from 34 days to approximately five months. The vessel was converted to a FPSO 14-years ago and since then has been operating off the west coast of Africa for Elf. Lisnave's Mitrena yard is presently dedicated to offshore platform repairs and conversion of bulk carriers into drilling vessels for Houston-based offshore company Falcon Drilling. These conversions include the Peregrine VI and the Peregrine VIII, which will be able to drill to depths of 10,500 ft. (3,200 m). This yard is also carrying out a conversion of a drilling platform, the PX, for Brazilian oil major Petrobras, doubling the vessel's deep drilling capacity from 1,970 ft. (600 m) to 3,937 ft. (1,200 m).
Wilton Fijenoord Takeover Imminent There have been some further developments with the proposed takeover of the Wilton Fijenoord (WF) repair facility in Schiedam. Both yards' workers councils are expected to agree terms which includes a promise from YVC that there will be no redundancies at the time of the amalgamation, which is expected to take place during the first half of 1999. There are currently 145 workers employed at YVC's Bolnes shiprepair yard and a further 275 at WF. RDM Technology HoldingBV acquired the shares of Wilton Fijenoord Holdings BV earlier this year and will retain ownership of Verolme Botlek and the naval part of WF, which includes a fairly busy spares and support contract involving submarines built at WF for the Taiwanese Navy. RDM is also expected to sell the panamax floating dock, which is currently part of the WF shipyard. When the move by YVC Bolnes to WF takes place, there will be a total of six docks (three graving and three floating) involved, which, according to YVC is too much and therefore another floating dock is likely to be placed on the sale and purchase market. The WF facility will then carry on in a smaller scale following the sale of some of the site to industrial interests in the shiprepair industry, with a shipbuilding capability in the 40,000 dwt capacity covered dock. The new operating name for the yard will be Rotterdam United Shipyards. The shipbuilding side of YVC's activities is not likely to move until after the year 2001.
Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven, Germany, has continued its dominance of the cruise market by winning a $23.2 million contract from Finland's Birka Line, for the conversion of the 21,484 grt passenger RoRo Birka Princess. The contract, which will see the yard fully occupied until the end of the first quarter of 1999, will primarily involve bringing the vessel up to current environmental standards.
Additions include a waste gas purifying installment for the engines, as well as a fire-extinguishing system. The conversion side of the contract will see the yard extend one deck and construct a panorama lounge extending over two decks. A total of 62 new passenger cabins will be built, bringing the total to 559 cabins (a total of 1,100 passengers). A new restaurant will also be included.
FPSO Conversion Proceeds In Singapore The latest stage in the construction of the FPSO for the Triton Field has taken place with the Triton 1 arriving in Singapore for further modification and installation work prior to sailing for the U.K. The Triton 1, a 105,000 dwt, 624,000 barrels capacity unit, was constructed by South Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) under a contract originally signedIth Singapore's Tanker Pacific at then assigned to Kvaerner Oil ' Gas Ltd (KOGL), Croydon fold i n g a contract for the design, instruction, in-installation and lommissioning of the Triton FPSO aeing awarded to KOGL by Amerada Hess during August H997.
The original design was upgrad- 1 ed following KOGL's take-over of the construction program to give the hull added strength and service life by enhanced steel grades and thicknesses. The hull, which currently has its own propulsion unit, has now arrived at Singapore's Sembawang Shipyard for execution of the modification workscope, including the installation of a Bluewater designed mooring turrets casing.
This turret casing is constructed with top and bottom bearing housings, approximately 20 ft. (6 m) in diameter and 82 ft. (25 m) apart, and is to be integrated to the double bottom structure that was prefabricated by the yard. These bearing housings were checked for precise alignment, marked and machined to very fine tolerances. The entire structure, weighing some 250 tons, is to be integrated into the No. 1 cargo tank when the vessel is in drydock using a sheerleg floating crane.
Other works by Sembawang Shipyard include installation of the topsides support stools, stern discharge grillage, cooling water caissons, fire pumps, HVAC system and major deck cable trays and cabling work conforming to stringent North Sea offshore standards.
When completed Triton 1 will sail from Singapore to Teesside during late October for topsides installation including two production and two utility 'pallets' and a Bluewater designed turret mooring system. The fabrication work will be carried out at KOGL's facility at Port Clarence, a former Trafalgar House site, on the north side of the Tees and the integration at Cargo-fleet Wharf, on the south side of the river. During this process the main propulsion unit will be decommissioned and the rudder and propeller removed. Triton 1 is then expected, during the third quarter of 1999, to be towed out to the North Sea where she will go on station to serve the Bittern Field, formerly known as Abbot (Amerada Hess) and Razorbill (Shell), and Texaco's Guillemot West Field. The individual fields will be developed using subsea trees, control systems, manifolds, and flowlines provided by Amerada Hess and partners.
When the vessel takes her first cargoes of oil and gas, the ownership will be transferred from KOGL to Amerada Hess. It is expected that the unit will stay on station for at least 15 years.
OSV In Sea Trials The 3,548 dwt Bahamas offshore supply vessel Kommandor 3,000, which is currently chartered with Oslo-based DSND, is to undergo further conversion work to enable her to undertake pipelaying work off the Brazilian coast. The vessel is currently undergoing sea trials, following a 10-month conversion project - converted from a RoRo vessel to an OSV at Fredrikshavn's Orskov Staal-skibsvaerft. DSND has recently concluded a provisional agreement with Brazilian stateowned oil group, Petrobras, to enter into a supply contract, worth $77 million, to supply a further vessel for laying flexible pipelines in Brazilian waters. The agreement has a term of two years plus a one- year option, with delivery during the second quarter of 1999. The latest conversion project will commence at the beginning of next year at a yet unnamed shipyard in Europe.
