Having developed the concept and basic design for Heerema’s new monohull construction vessel, Ulstein Group’s design company Ulstein Sea of Solutions (USOS) is to carry out further engineering with the DSME in South Korea.
The Norwegian company was hired by Heerema in February to design its new 44,220bhp deepwater construction vessel.
A letter of intent was signed between the Dutch heavy lift specialist and DSME in July. A firm order was confirmed shortly after for the design, construction, testing, commissioning and delivery of the 211.5m ship. The vessel will be a “customised” version of the Ulstein SOC 5000 design.
The Heerema variant will feature a crane-based heavy lift capability of 4,000 tonnes and will be capable of handling loads to 3,500m (11,800ft) water depth.
It will also carry a Huisman pipe-lay tower for J-lay and reel-lay operations via a moonpool and have a transit speed of some 14 knots.
The further engineering work is being carried out by a dedicated project office located in the Dutch town of Vlaardingen, where a team of engineers from DSME and Ulstein Sea of Solutions have been drawn together. Huisman is also playing a key role in designing the ship’s systems.