Heerema Marine Contractor’s iconic
semisubmersible crane vessel Hermod is set to retire after a 40-year
operational service history.
Designed and constructed in the 1970s, Hermod
and her sister vessel Balder were the first semisubmersible crane vessels of their
kind in the offshore construction industry.
The semisubmersible concept was developed
with the aim of extending operability in the harsh North Sea environment and to
deliver superior lifting capacity.
This allowed Heerema Marine Contractors to
work faster and during more months of the year than the conventional mono-hull
crane vessels of the time.
After delivery by the Japanese Mitsui yard in
1978, Hermod’s first job was the installation of the Piper A platform on the UK
Continental Shelf.
The vessel executed its first project outside
the North Sea in Brazil in the mid-1980s, followed by projects in the Gulf of
Mexico, South East Asia and Africa.
Throughout its career, Hermod has worked in
more than 25 countries and was involved in several "first-of"
installation projects, including:
- Installation of the first North Sea tension
leg platform (TLP) (Hutton) jointly with Balder in 1984.
- Installation of the first deepwater
foundation piles of the first TLP in the Gulf of Mexico (Auger) in 870m water
depth in 1992.
- Installation of the Tombua Landana
compliant tower foundation in Angola in 2008, comprising the world's largest
single piece foundation piles (2.7m-diameter, 190m-long and weighing 850-tonne
each).
- Removal of the first large platform in the
UK: North West Hutton in 2008/09.
- The heaviest lift performed by Hermod was
the Peregrino topside in Brazil in 2010, with a dry weight of 6287-tonne.
- The demolition of Hermod will be performed
in a safe and responsible way, in accordance with the Hong Kong International
Convention for the Safe and - Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships and in
line with the European Union Ship Recycling Regulation.
The Chinese demolition yard Zhoushan
Changhong International Ship Recycling Company has been selected. About 98% of
the vessel materials will be recycled and re-used.
Hermod will be transported to its final
destination on Boskalis' heavy transport vessel Dockwise Vanguard.
"We wish to bring a thankful salute to
our Hermod and all of our colleagues involved in working on and with her,
presently and in the past, being grateful for an exceptional contribution to
the offshore construction industry in general and our company in
particular," says HMC.
HMC is currently constructing the world’s
largest semisubmersible crane vessel Sleipnir in Singapore. Sleipnir has a two,
10,000-tonne lifting capacity and is due to come into service in 2019.
Sleipnir will be outfitted with a dual fuel
propulsion system, whereby in LNG mode, harmful emissions will be substantially
reduced.
Source:
offshore engineer. 07 September 2017
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