4,000 tonne lifting vessel on drawing board

Huisman will design, construct and install a 4,000 tonne offshore mast crane and a pipelay tower for Heerema's new deep water construction vessel.

It will be used for J-lay and reel-lay operations in ultra deep water. Installation of the equipment is scheduled for 2012 and 2013, partly at the DSME yard in South Korea and partly at the Huisman quay in Schiedam, the Netherlands.

The mast crane design was selected for the vessel because of the small footprint and small construction weight of the crane, said Huisman. It will be constructed in China.

For Reel-lay, the tower has two pipe tensioners of 400 tonnes capacity each. The pipe is spooled on reels that can be lifted on board offshore by the vessel's own crane. This is a new concept in rigid pipelaying on a large scale, said Huisman. it allows for onshore spooling of reels while offshore pipelaying continues, eliminating the need for a large spool base. In addition, the reels can be easily removed to free up deck space when operating in J-lay or crane barge mode, added Huisman.