Offshore staff
STAVANGER, Norway -- Remora ASA has completed a series of scale model tests to verify the final design for the HiLoad DP vessel being built at Marintek's ocean basin in Trondheim, Norway.
Remora tested theHiLoad DP under extreme survival conditions. Survival tests were carried out with wind and wave conditions as measured during hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico in 2005, with maximum wave heights of 30 m (98 ft) in combination with extreme wind speeds of 60 m/sec (197 ft/sec).
TheHiLoad DP unit handled these conditions without any significant roll or pitch motion, with a vertical heave motion in harmony with the seas.
Remora also carried out docking tests for different wave conditions and directions, simulating docking of theHiLoad DP unit to a tanker in rough seas. The results confirmed that the HiLoad DP behaves excellently in extreme weather conditions and can safely dock to a tanker in sea states of up to a significant wave height (Hs) of 4.5 m (15 ft), the company says.
Test results confirm that theHiLoad DP can operate with close to 100% operational regularity in areas like the GoM, offshore Brazil, West Africa, Asia and with the same regularity as the DP-2 shuttle tankers in the North Sea area.
TheHiLoad DP project is moving into the construction phase at Vetco Aibel's yard in Haugesund, Norway, in March 2007.
2/2/2007
