Converted transport vessels can accommodate rigs, FPSO modules
In June, the Fairstar Fjord completed its first offshore assignment as a converted, self-propelled heavy transport vessel. The job involved transferring the icebreaker Ice Maiden from Pascagoula, Mississippi, to the A&P Tyne yard in northeast England.
A sister vessel, the Fairstar Fjell, is nearing the end of its conversion and should be ready for sea trials early 2009. Both vessels formerly were unused semisubmersible barges, built in 2000, which Rotterdam-based Fairstar Heavy Transport acquired for $45 million from Norwegian contractor Boa in 2005.
Fairstar commissioned Fairmount Marine, also in Rotterdam, to manage the conversion program in 2006, but the Fjordwork took much longer than expected. There were various reasons, according to Fairstar’s Mario Kerssens. “Admittedly,” he says, “this was the first-ever conversion of a semisubmersible barge in this fashion. But the designated yard, Malta Shipyards, is a specialist in ship repairs, not newbuildings, and the basic engineering was still being performed as first steel was cut.”
After the Fjord was completed late last year, well behind schedule, Fairstar canceled Fairmount’s contract for the Fjell and took on responsibility for the conversion itself. Malta Shipyards was retained for this program.
“We have a very good EPC contract,” Kerssens explains, “which was very well negotiated at a very favorable price. If well managed, the contract provides a good basis for the conversions.”
Both vessels are being targeted at three main sectors of oil and gas activity:
- 1. Drilling. Fairstar has identified over 60 rigs on order, of which around 80% are under construction at Asian yards such as Jurong, Keppel Fels, and PPL, and therefore will require ocean transportation to their working destination. The Fjord and Fjell are designed to handle most new jackups and over 80% of semisubmersibles, except the largest units or others with novel geometric shapes not suited to dry transportation
- 2. Long-distance transport of topsides modules for integration with FPSO hulls in the Far East — typically from yards in Brazil, Angola, and Nigeria, where local fabrication content for projects is increasingly important
- 3. Delivering modules weighing around 2,000 tons (1,814 metric tons) to LNG and GTL plants in areas such as Australia and West Africa.
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Volume 68 Issue 8
August 2008
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