Offshore staff

ULSTEINVIK, Norway – GC Rieber Shipping has awarded Ulstein a $131-million contract to build an SX121-design subsea construction vessel, with an option for a second unit. The newbuild is scheduled for delivery early in 2014.

The DP-3 vessel will be 130 m (426 ft) long and 25 m (82 ft) wide with a top speed of 14.5 knots. It will be equipped with a large active heave-compensated offshore crane with 250 ton (227 metric ton) capacity at 14 m (46 ft) outreach, and the winch placed below deck. The crane will be used mainly to lift and lower heavy equipment from and to the seafloor.

There will be two onboard ROVs, one to be launched from the starboard side and the other through one of two moonpools.

Other equipment will include a vertical lay system (VLS) tower and a 2,500-ton (2,268-metric ton) rotating carousel below deck for pipelay operations. The second moonpool will serve VLS deployments.

6/01/2012