Levingston Contracts for World’s Largets Liftboat
PaxOcean Engineering Zhoushan Co., Ltd. of Singapore, Singapore and The Levingston Corporation, Boerne, Texas, USA announced they have signed a Letter of Intent to build a Levingston designed 415WC (World Class) with an option for one additional similar vessel for an undisclosed contract value. The announcement was made at the new Elevating Boats LLC’s (EBI) facility at Ponchatoula, Louisiana.
The Levingston 415WC Jack-up MOU (Mobile Offshore Unit) will be the world’s largest liftboat with 415 feet of legs, an open deck area of 18,300 square feet (1,700 square meters), a net deck load capacity of 1,654 tons (1,500 metric tonnes) with accommodations for 100 personnel including navigation crew. This vessel follows in the footsteps of the Levingston 320E, the world’s current largest liftboat. Levingston has delivered three of a six-vessel contract based on the 320E design with the remaining deliveries scheduled to be completed June 2012. The 415WC vessel will have the fastest, high capacity Levingston-EBI 12-tooth pinion jacking system along with the Levingston-RAM Leg Encircling Crane with 300 metric tonne capacity. This vessel will be designed to work in harsh environments and with this design the accommodations may be increased to meet additional customer’s needs.
The Levingston 415WC Jack-up MOU shall be provided with, if required, the option of a modular workover/drilling facility (mounted on a cantilever structure) to support offshore workover operations. The cantilever shall be equipped with state-of-art workover/drilling equipment package, and hydraulically skidded out of the bow of the vessel. When the vessel is not required to be in workover operation mode, the cantilever structure shall be removed to onshore storage. Alternatively, modular workover/drilling equipment can be set on the platform using the 415WC’s crane if the customer does not use cantilever beams.
According to Ken Serigne, CEO of EBI, "we are pleased to jointly announce the start of the new generation of liftboats. Through our long-term relationship with Levingston, we have developed the new industry standard in world-class liftboat design. In combination with Levingston and using EBI’s proven jacking system, this will bring a new level of versatility for the offshore industry. Using our jacking system, the Levingston 415WC will simply be the fastest, high capacity liftboat in the world. It is greatly gratifying to see this accomplishment."
Further, Ronald Sanders, CEO and Chairman of Levingston, stated, "it is a great day to announce the start of a new era for the American inspired liftboat industry and more specifically the Louisiana inspired liftboat industry. It gives me a great sense of pride to see this evolutionary and revolutionary liftboat industry well accepted in the world offshore industry. Along with our alliance partners, we will continue to be the world leader in liftboat technologies. We are extremely pleased to be working with PaxOcean to build the Levingston 415WC."
In addition to EBI and Ram Crane, The Levingston Corporation has been able to meet the challenging needs of the global market through their co-operation with GL Noble Denton, Jackup Structures Alliance and Alabama Roll Products. The Levingston 415WC will be ABS Classed.
PaxOcean will build the vessels in their Zhoushan shipyard located in the People’s Republic of China. Zhoushan Island is located about 17 nautical miles from Yangshan Port in Shanghai. The yard is composed of 173 acres with 36 acres of in shop areas and has two of the world’s largest drydocks (No.1 dock: 400m x 106m x 13.7m, No.2 dock: 380m x 80m x 13.7m). The fabrication areas, dry dock facilities, overhead cranes with other yard features, provides the shipyard with the key features to build the Levingston 415WC.
