Offshore Vessel News Roundup | November 22 – Chinese exploration jackup, FLNG conversion for West African waters and more

Deliveries include a floating LNG liquefaction vessel and an exploration platform that will operate in support of the Chinese offshore wind market. A Chinese yard floats out a new cable-laying vessel with an innovative trenching system. Finally, a Taiwanese wind farm operator will add a second walk-to-work vessel to its fleet.

Golar LNG acquires floating processing vessel

Golar LNG has taken delivery of a converted floating LNG (FLNG) liquefaction vessel from Singapore shipbuilder Seatrium.

Gimi was originally built as a gas carrier with a 125,000-cubic-metre capacity in 1975.

Designed for 20 years of operations on-site without drydocking and with a liquefaction capacity of 2.7 million tonnes per annum, the vessel is contracted to operate near-shore in water depths of 30 metres. It will be stationed at the Mauritania and Senegal maritime border and is scheduled to begin production next year as part of the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project.

Exploration jackup delivered to Chinese offshore wind company

Zhejiang Huadong Construction Engineering has completed construction of a new offshore exploration and testing platform ordered by Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina).

Huadong Yuan 308 is a self-elevating platform that will be used mainly for geological survey, scientific research, and testing in support of offshore wind farms. Four pile legs will enable operation in water depths of 55 metres.

The vessel was built in compliance to China Classification Society (CCS) requirements.

Ta San Shang Marine orders second SOV

Ta San Shang Marine (TSSM), a joint venture between Mitsui OSK Lines and Taiwan’s Ta Tong Marine, has awarded Netherlands-based the Damen Shipyards Group a contract for the construction of a new service operation vessel (SOV) that will support activities at wind farms off the coast of Taiwan.

The vessel will be the second SOV to join the TSSM fleet after TSS Pioneer, which was delivered in 2022.

Once completed, the SOV will have a length of 90 metres, accommodations for 120 personnel, and a battery hybrid propulsion system that can be modified in the future to also allow operation on green methanol. The equipment will include a motion-compensated gangway.

Chinese cable-lay vessel hits the water

China’s Jiangsu Haixin Shipping Heavy Industry has floated out a new cable-laying vessel slated for local owner Zhejiang Qiming Offshore Electric Power Engineering.

The CCS-classed Qifan 19 will have a design draught of six metres, a turntable with a capacity 10,000 tonnes, and a water spray cable burial plough.

The plough can discharge a high-pressure water flow that can carve out a 4.5-metre-deep gully on the seabed. CCS said that any cables placed and buried in the gully will be better protected from anchor damage.