Van Oord launches new subsea rock installation vessel

The latest addition to the Van Oord fleet was unveiled on Monday at the Wilhelminakade in Rotterdam.

Subsea rock installation (SRI) vessel Bravenes is the third vessel to join Van Oord’s SRI fleet. SRI vessels stabilise and protect subsea pipelines, cables and other structures at depths down to 1,500 metres.

According to Van Oord, Bravenes is an innovative vessel in its class because of its unique ability to install rock in three different ways. She can install rock through a fallpipe inserted through the moonpool, through a fallpipe over the side, and through a tremie pipe over the side. Thanks to the latter method, it even can perform subsea rock installation at close proximity to offshore platforms.

After the christening celebrations, Bravenes will be setting course for Norway to work on various North Sea projects. From mid-July, it will be carrying out stabilisation operations for Nord Stream 2, the gas pipeline that will stretch from Russia to Germany.