Subsea 7 is now actively marketing its latest new generation heavy construction vessel (HCV), which was ordered from Hyundai of South Korea a year ago and is to be named the Seven Arctic.
The vessel is a further response by the company to the now rapidly evolving subsea market where the market for medium-to-heavy lift capacity construction vessels is regarded as considerable.
However, the Arctic is a completely different beast to the Seven Borealis delivered in 2012 and which carries a massive pipelay spread and 5,000-tonne crane.
The new HCV is to be fitted with a 325-tonne top tension vertical pipelay system and a 900-tonne, 58m radius knuckle-boom crane by Huisman and a 7,000-tonne underdeck carousel by Maats for storage of flexible pipe/umbilicals.
The so-called “rope-luffing”, knuckle-boom crane is a development of Huisman’s existing pedestal-mounted offshore and offshore mast crane designs. It is considered highly versatile and efficient and can be used in 300t, 600t or 900t modes.
Seven Arctic’s outline design is off the drawing boards of Wartsilä Ship Design Norway, with detailed design by Hyundai.
Vital statistics include:
- Length overall: 162.3m
- Breadth: 32.0m
- Depth main deck: 13.5m
- Operating draught: 8.5m
- Deck Area: 2,600sq.m approx.
- Deck strength: 15t per sq.m aft of main crane
- Main machinery comprises:
- Six Hyundai type HiMSEN 9H32, 4,275kW, diesels in “power station” arrangement
- Two main propellers plus array of four thrusters – two tunnel and two retractable
This will be the second vessel that HHI will build for Subsea 7. In November 2012, the company signed a contract with HHI to build a new dive support vessel, the Seven Kestrel, which will join the fleet in 2015.
The Kestrel will be optimised for operations in the North Sea, featuring an 18-man twin bell saturation diving system rated to 300m and a heave compensated 120-tonne crane.
Some other salient features include:
- Length 125.4m x breadth 24.0m
- Accommodation for 110 persons
- Deck Area 1,038m²
- DP Class 3 with three engine rooms
- Family of six Hyundai type HiMSEN 9H25/33 diesels each rated 2,700kW
- Deck load of 1,000 tonnes at 4.5m above main deck
Meanwhile, the company has just welcomed the 145m pipelayer Seven Waves into its fleet.
A Subsea 7 spokesman told Energy: “It has just completed its build ahead of schedule and it has now departed from the Huisman yard in Rotterdam bound for Las Palmas.
“The vessel will conduct deep water pipelay trials off the Canaries before transiting across the Atlantic and her new home offshore Brazil. It will then imminently commence work on a five-year day-rate contract for Petrobras.”
This vessel was designed and built in the Netherlands by IHC in close cooperation with Subsea 7. It was ordered on the back of the long-term contract with Petrobras.
To fulfil Petrobras’ requirements, the vessel has been equipped for transporting and installing flexible flowlines and umbilicals in water depths to 3,000m, including: a tiltable lay system with a top tension capability of 550 tonnes; two under-deck storage carousels; a large deck crane; and two work-class ROVs.
Huisman designed and built the ship’s 550-tonne Flex-lay system and 400-tonne mast crane.
The latter is equipped with a deepwater (to 3,00m) lowering system and an active heave compensation system to counter-act the vessel’s heaving motion when landing a load on the seabed.
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