What’s the approach right now with Fairstar?  Are things getting sorted out with the Fairstar-Dockwise deal?  The last I heard things were “heating up” a bit between the two companies.

Not as far as we’re concerned.  We look at our control to be at over 54 percent, we still have of course a couple of formal position points ahead of us, like our AGM, but we’re confident we are able to explain the business case to our shareholders.

We have put our price forward, and there is a lot of speculation about the remaining 46 percent.

We’ve said we find the 22 percent premium on the value of the stock prior to our offer, to be a decent proposal, and that’s where we are. 

What does Fairstar think they are worth?

I have no idea, you’ll have to ask Fairstar.

Fair enough. 

Moving on… the Dockwise Vanguard was a bit of a feature for you this year at OTC Houston, and your company is planning to do some remarkable things once she’s delivered, such as dry-docking an FPSO while still attached to the buoy. 

A conceptual image showing the Dockwise Vanguard drydocking an FPSO while still connected to the production buoy, image courtesy Dockwise

How long has that concept been considered?

Really, we’ve been looking at this idea ever since we made the decision to build the Vanguard.  The idea behind this vessel is that it serves a couple of market segments.

First of all, we’re looking at the new, big production semis for deep water, because everything is getting bigger, and we’re looking at the potential to transport a fully integrated semi, so it’s not a separate hull, but a hull including the topside.

On Jack & St. Malo, they were just a little bit ahead of us, but if you look at Goliat, which is a fully integrated semi headed to northern Norway, that’s the idea we had when we decided to build it.

Is that one of those cylindrical FPSOs by Sevan Marine?

Yes, that is correct. Recently we have transported the Sevan Brasil, which is a drilling rig of a similar cylindrical shape as the Goliat.

Our next target market are spar buoys.

I think Statoil awarded Dockwise a contract for such a project recently isn’t that correct?

Yes, Aasta Hansteen.  It’s a long spar, and wider than the others we’ve transported in the past. Of the 17 spar buoys that are now installed in the Gulf of Mexico, we’ve transported 15 of them.

Perdido and Tahiti were the last two, but the Aasta Hansteen spar will be of a new generation of spars and a step up. We see new spar buoys targeted for the deepwater projects in the Gulf of Mexico and that’s a major segment we see as an ideal fit for the Dockwise Vanguard.

Our third targeted segment for the Dockwise Vanguard is transporting new builds from the Far East that do not have their own propulsion to either Brazil or West Africa. Then we would look at the transportation, or lifting, of the converted FPSOs.  Considering that there have been about 80 FPSOs in operation over the past 10 years, there is a particular need for this as many are now seeing maintenance issues that will require dry-docking.

Gradually, we have a lot of discussions ongoing with the FPSO owners and the oil companies about new builds and I expect that not too long from now, we’re probably going to sign another deal for the Dockwise Vanguard with one of the FPSOs.

How many contracts do you have signed for the Vanguard already?

We have three contracts at the moment for around $100 million, and the vessel is still under construction.

That’s fairly unique in an industry where everyone is fairly traditional from the beginning.

Well, the Dockwise Vanguard is certainly not a traditional vessel.

Nothing traditional about it indeed.

Recently, we’ve also decided to convert the Black Marlin and make it as big as the Blue Marlin for the near top end of the market, right under the Dockwise Vanguard cargo size.

The Blue Marlin and the Black Marlin were sister ships weren’t they?

We are going to make them sister ships again.

So, maybe I’m missing something, but as sister ships, I would think that both ships would have the same capacity when they were originally built?

They were exactly the same.

So what happened with the Blue Marlin?

We converted the Blue Marlin in 2004 when we signed the Thunderhorse contract with BP, then we converted her to a capacity of 75 thousand tons. Since then, she has been carrying around all these 6th Generation semis, big production units, and that part of the market is going to be so crowded in the next couple years that we decided to upgrade her sister ship.

Going back to the Fairstar deal, because we have decided to convert the Black Marlin, we need another vessel like her to fill in that segment of the market.

The Fairstar deal is significant for us because it is fully complementary to everything else that we do. In the fact that they have the converted barges, FORTE and FJELL, and for our offshore work, those vessels are pretty interesting. The other two vessels are a good addition to the rest of the fleet looking at their size.

What is Dockwise’s role in the Australian Ichthys project? 

The Ichthys project has a couple of components. There is an LNG project, which consists of modules, which is something that Fairstar is partly working on, but before that, the big production unit, which still needs to be built, that’s the unit which will be the largest floating production unit ever built.

The Prelude?

No, no, this will be the integrated semisubmersible that will be built and will be close to 100 thousand tons in weight.  This is something that we are looking at for the Dockwise Vanguard.  Then, there is an FPSO as part of this project, and the LNG systems. All of these projects have a significant magnitude, and most of it is pretty interesting for the Dockwise Vanguard.

Do you foresee building any more of these ships once this one is launched?

Well we take the position that we want to see this one done first. I would certainly like to have the first  three years under contract and then looking at the market, I think there might be a chance that we look at another one.

When will the Dockwise Vanguard be delivered?

Mid-December she’ll be delivered, but she will be in the water by August.

Who is classing this ship?

It’s DNV.

Was there a particular reason you chose DNV over any of the other classification societies?

We have a very strong relationship with DNV for all our vessels, so for a vessel with as much novelty and technology as the Dockwise Vanguard, we find DNV to be the most qualified.

Was this an in-house design?

We came up with the concept, because we knew pretty well what we wanted, essentially a semisubmersible aircraft carrier, and we figured out the basic conceptual design in-house, and then went to Deltamarin in Finland and they worked on it to see if it would work.  A few months later they came back and say we have something you need to see, and we think it’s doable. Here it is.

And how long have you been with Dockwise Andre?

I’ve been CEO since 2003, so almost 10 years now.

What has been the biggest challenge for you as CEO?

The biggest challenge was in 2006 when our parent company, Heerema sold us and we went through full control auction where we had a lot of bidders for our company.  That was 8 to 10 months of very complex negotiations, and the company was finally sold to a private equity firm.

All in all, it has been a really good situation for us ever since and has left us in the position to make a lot of investments and grow the company which has accelerated us in the right direction.

Image: Dockwise

Dockwise announced today their decision to convert their Type 2* heavy lift vessel, the Black Marlin, to a Type 1 vessel similar to its sister ship, the Blue Marlin.  Conversion will lift the Black Marlin’s carrying capacity from 56,000 to 76,000 tonnes.

At 1253 feet (382m) in length, and 384 feet (117m) at the beam, this massive ship will have a footprint twice as large as the Emma Maersk.  Eight diesel generators will provide 95MW of power to 12 azimuth-mounted thrusters and for all operational needs.

This ship was uniquely designed with the ability to deconstruct aging offshore oil production structures, particularly those found in the North Sea, as well as for high capacity pipelay operations.

USS Antietam and the USS Carl Vinson battlegroup (US Navy photo)

On the bow of the Pieter Schelte is a unique system that allows her to latch on to a topsides structure and conduct a 48,000 ton maximum lift to separate this structure from the supports below that reach down to the sea floor.  To put this in perspective, 48,000 tons is about 5 times as heavy as a Ticonderoga-class Cruiser.

Once the topsides removal is complete, the ship will then turn 180 degrees and a powerful array of high capacity cantilever cranes will lift the steel “jacket” truss off the bottom and lay it flat on the aft deck.  This system will have the capacity to lift even the largest steel structures in the North Sea, the location of her primary mission once commissioned in 2013.

As a dynamically-positioned pipelay vessel, the Pieter Schelte will have a 2,000 ton tension capacity, twice that of the Allseas Solitaire, the current world record holder for pipelay capacity.  She will have the capacity to lay concrete-coated steel trunklines nearly 6 feet in diameter from her stern.

Video Flyby Of The Pieter Schelte

Click here to view the embedded video.

Decommissioning An Oil Platform

Pieter Schelte Decommissioning of an oil rig

For more videos of the Pieter Schelte visit Allseas’ movie gallery. To view other offshore behemoths visit gCaptain’s Heavy Lift section.

By Richard Spilman

Taking shape in the Hyundai shipyard in Ulsan, Korea is an engineering marvel. The Dockwise Vanguard, previously referred to as the Type-O design, is the largest and most advanced heavy lift vessel ever built.   At 275 meters (902 feet) long and 70 meters (230 feet) wide, the Vanguard can lift 110,000 tonnes and travel across oceans at 14 knots.  Virtually all of the space on deck is clear and available for cargo, and perhaps most remarkable of all, the ship lacks anything that would conventionally be referred to as a bow.

The Vanguard will have 50% greater lifting capacity and 70% greater deck area than the largest heavy lift ship now in service, the Blue Marlin, also owned by Dockwise, which can lift 73,000 tonnes.   Dockwise currently operates 19 heavy lift ships – the world’s largest fleet of semi-submersible vessels of various sizes and types.

The Vanguard, the Blue Marlin and the rest of the Dockwise fleet are ships designed to carry other ships, drilling rigs or anything else too large or heavy to be easily transported on a conventional ship.  They are semi-submersible heavy lift ships, which is to say that the ships are designed to be ballasted down so that their main decks go underwater, allowing their cargo to be floated aboard. The ships’ ballast tanks are then pumped out, the ship floats higher in the water, lifting its cargo, and is ready to sail wherever in the world the cargo needs to be transported.  In 2008, the Blue Marlin safely carried BP’s 60,000 tonne semi-submersible production rig, Thunder Horse, over 15,000 nautical miles from Okpo, Korea to Corpus Christi, Texas.

The new Dockwise Vanguard will give the firm the ability to transport even larger and heavier cargoes, including entire Floating Production Storage and Offloading units (FPSOs.)  The Dockwise Vanguard is expected to be delivered toward the end of 2012.  Two cargoes have already been booked for the new ship. The first will be carrying the Jack St. Malo platform hull from Korea to the US Gulf of Mexico for Chevron, immediately after the ship leaves the shipyard.  Two weeks ago, a second contract was announced, to carry the Goliat FPSO from Korea to northern Norway.

Dockwise currently has a record backlog, which is fortunate, as the global economic downturn and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which slowed new offshore construction, have both created challenges to Dockwise’s strategic plan.  Recently, Dockwise had to re-negotiate a covenant with its lender syndicate, temporarily waiving the leverage ratio – net debt over EBITDA (Earning Before Interest, Taxes Depreciation, and Amortization) for the period March 2012 until September 2013.  The Dockwise Vanguard is expected to cost roughly $240 million and was financed through debt and a $100 million rights offering.

The past several years have been challenging for company so dependent on transporting drill rigs and other over-sized equipment for the international oil companies.  Dockwise itself has also undergone major changes.

Dockwise was formed in 1993 through a merger between Wijsmuller Heavy Transport and Dock Express Shipping.  In 2001, Dockwise merged with Offshore Heavy Transport.  In 2006, the company was sold to Delphi Acquisition Holding I BV, a private equity investment vehicle of funds managed by 3i Investments.  In 2007 Dockwise merged with Sealift Ltd., another heavy lift operator. Also in 2007, Dockwise acquired two design and engineering companies and was listed on the Oslo Stock exchange.

Dockwise’s revenues have grown steadily, rising from US$ 252 million in 2006 to US$ 478 million in 2009 before leveling off in 2010 to US$439 million.   Earnings, however, have not been as robust.  Earnings in 2006 were US$ 61 million, as compared to US$37 million in 2009 and US$ 17 million in 2010.

Now, as the Dockwise Vanguard nears completion, the question remains – will international oil exploration recover sufficiently to keep Dockwise’s fleet gainfully employed and will the Vanguard give it the competitive advantage in moving the really large cargoes across the oceans of the world?

Dockwise is optimistic.  Andre Goedee, the chief executive, comments, “We have been particularly encouraged by clients’ reaction since we announced this investment decision. It is our expectation based on latest discussions with clients that we will surpass our initial revenue assumptions for the first year of operations. Clients have grasped the game changing potential of the vessel and made a valuable contribution to our thinking around the detailed design.”

Rick Spilman is a writer and naval architect with a background in ship design and operations and a BSE from the University of Michigan. He also earned an MBA at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the host of the Old Salt Blog.

8 months – 3 Jumbo vessels – 37 pieces – sea, river, land

Jumbo Shipping has completed its eight-month heavy lift transport contract for client KNPC (Kuwait National Petroleum Company). The contract involved the transport of 37 reactors, separators and coke drums for KNPC’s Clean Fuels Project expansion. Jumbo’s Total Transport Solution included shipping and barging operations, as well as land transport.

From October 2010 until June 2011 Jumbo’s Heavy Lift Vessels Jumbo Jubilee and Fairpartner and its flat-top barge JB-2 transported heavy refinery equipment from Hazira (India) and Porto Marghera (Italy) to the storage area in the Port of Shuaiba (Kuwait). Weights varied from 280 t coke drums up to 1595 t reactors, with the largest reactor measuring 42 x 8.5 x 7.5 m. All equipment will be part of the Clean Fuels Project expansion of the Mina Al-Abdullah and Mina Al-Ahmadi refineries, approx. 30 km south of Kuwait City.

Scope of work – total transport

India. A total 26 heavy lifts were shipped from the Larsen & Toubro manufacturing plant in Hazira. Because of the extreme tidal range in the Tapi River and draft restrictions at the Larsen & Toubro jetty, Jumbo mobilized its flat-top barge JB-2. This heavy lift barge measures 91 x 27 m, can be ballasted and has a deck load capacity of 15 t/m² (to compare: only two barges of this type are available in India). To keep the barge deck level (at all times) with the top of the quayside during the rising tide, the JB-2 was equipped with no less than 26 ballast pumps. Jumbo’s Indian subcontractor Lift & Shift was responsible for the roll-on operation of all heavy lifts onto the supports on the JB-2, while engineering checks and on-site supervision were handled by Jumbo’s engineers.

The JB-2, towed by four tug boats transported the cargo 8 km downriver from the L&T jetty to the Essar jetty where Jumbo’s J-Class HLVs, each outfitted with two 900 t Huisman mast cranes, could receive the barge alongside. Carefully engineered lift and stowage plans were executed to lift the reactors onto the Fairpartner and the Jumbo Jubilee which set sail for a 4.5 day voyage to Shuaiba.

Italy. Most of the 11 separators and reactors weighed over 1,000 t. To mobilize the ‘heavies’ from the manufacturer to Porto Marghera, one barge required barge-specific loadspreading saddles. Therefore, the final (transport & storage) saddles were pre-installed in the lower hold of the Jumbo Jubilee.

Gerard van As, Jumbo’s Team Leader Engineering says: “We were very pleased with the professional attitude of our client. For example, KNPC allowed Jumbo to play an active role in the design of the saddles and determine their exact dimensions and location underneath the cargo. This is unique, as usually heavy lift carriers are not involved in this process, even though it is of vital importance to the safe transport of heavy cargo. Close involvement also has a positive impact on costs.”

Kuwait.

To allow fast discharge of Jumbo’s HLV’s in Shuaiba all cargo items were temporarily stored near the quayside. Transportation to the storage area, 5 km from the port, required the design of a traffic management system, e.g. blocking off sections of public roads during the transport’s passage, extensive route surveys and discussing traffic management with the transport crew. The SPMTs (Self Propelled Modular Trailers) were owned and operated by ALE. As before, all engineering checks and supervision were within Jumbo’s scope. At the storage area all 37 pieces were offloaded onto concrete supports and load spreading mats. Finally, in order to protect the reactors’ inside from corrosion, the internal nitrogen pressure was checked and where necessary adjusted.

Over a period of 8 months and in close collaboration with client KNPC and subcontractors Lift & Shift and ALE, Jumbo Shipping delivered all cargo safely, on time and within budget.

You Tube:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dockwise Ltd, one of the most capable heavy lift contractors in the world, has signed a major deal with Seadrill to provide transport services for their global fleet of drilling rigs.  Please see the press release from Dockwise Ltd below:

Breda, The Netherlands, 1 April, 2011, Dockwise Ltd., today announces that it has entered into a Master Service Agreement (MSA) with Seadrill Management AS to provide for the transportation requirements of all relevant rigs operated by the Seadrill group, including its subsidiaries.

The MSA provides a framework for all future contracts, standardising and simplifying the booking processes, with associated efficiency savings. The framework will leave only the commercial issues which vary according to which drilling rig is to be transported and voyage, such as prices, demurrage and additional services, to be negotiated for each individual transport.

Seadrill presently has a fleet of 47 drilling units, including semi-submersibles, drill ships, jack-ups and tender rigs, with a further 12 on order and under construction. During the last three years, Seadrill recorded 11 jack-up and five tender rig transports of which six were carried out by Dockwise.

The MSA takes immediate effect, and the first likely transport governed by this arrangement is scheduled to commence during this coming summer when Mighty Servant 1 will transport Seadrill’s 28,000 tonne jack-up drilling rig; West Elara from Singapore to Norway.

Andre Goedee, Chief Executive, Dockwise, said:

“We are pleased to sign this ground-breaking agreement with Seadrill, one of our long-standing and highly valued clients. With a globally operating fleet, Seadrill has a year-round requirement for our services. Dockwise is to provide Seadrill with its professional transport service standards under an agreement which will also deliver valuable efficiency gains for our client. The size of the Dockwise fleet and the associated planning flexibility has hereby played an important role.”

According to German online newspaper, Handelsblatt, Oaktree Capital, the US-based investment firm owning a 49.5 percent stake in Beluga, has sent documents to the Bremen prosecutor revealing that Beluga’s leadership had grossly exaggerated earnings and had created fictitious invoices indicating millions of dollars of false orders between 2009 and 2010.   Beluga’s order books on 15 June 2010 indicated there were $800MM in orders between 2010 and 2011, when in reality, the number appears to be closer to $58MM.

Oaktree Capital Management, a VC firm in San Diego Los Angeles-based private equity company, pumped $260MM ~$100M into Beluga last year, however low ship utilization rates have resulted in soaring debts.  Oaktree currently owns 49.5 percent of Beluga, and all indications are that they are working to secure a majority stake of this privately-held company.   Further internal restructuring is expected in the short term.

Beluga competes with other heavy lift operators such as Dockwise, TBS Ship, and Intermarine.

Breda, The Netherlands Following the Board’s decision, announced in November 2010, to commission a new build vessel to service the emerging market for ultra-large transports, Dockwise has appointed Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) of Korea as its ship building yard. HHI is scheduled to deliver the vessel during the last quarter of 2012, following sea trials, when it is intended to undertake its initial commercial voyage.

The new vessel has been categorized a “Type 0” (T-0) to reflect its exceptional size. Hitherto, the largest class of vessel has been Type 1 with cargo capabilities between 41,000 and 73,000 tons and of which Dockwise, as only provider in the market, already has two in service. With an overall deck size of 275 x 70 meters, and a revolutionary bowless design, the new vessel will have a carrying capacity of more than 110,000 tons. It will be the first of its kind in service in the maritime transport industry, and will add a unique capability to the Dockwise fleet, maintaining its leadership position at the top of the market.

The specification of the T-0 is subject to further detailed design engineering, as Dockwise consults with clients and HHI offshore division engaged in fabricating the next generation of modular units. HHI’s flexibility in new build design, together with its track record of on-schedule delivery and budget discipline, were key deciding factors in the award of the contract. The total cost of the vessel including all project and design costs, is expected to be approximately USD 240 million, with installments of approximately 45% in 2011 and 55% in 2012. The investment is fully financed by the successful rights issue and revolver debt facility Dockwise completed end 2010.

André Goedée, Chief Executive, Dockwise, said: “We have been particularly encouraged by clients’ reactions since we announced this investment decision. It is our expectation, based on latest discussions with clients, that we will surpass our initial revenue assumptions for the first year of operations. Clients have grasped the game changing potential of the vessel and have made a valuable contribution to our thinking around the detailed design.

Hyundai is the partner of choice for our new build vessel, designed to transport the next generation of ultra-size units. Hyundai’s performance-to-budget and delivery records provide the reassurance we seek that the vessel will be available at the agreed loading date for its first assignment.”

C.J. Kang, executive vice president and COO of Hyundai Heavy Industries, said: “As EPIC contractor for offshore projects, we agree strongly with Dockwise that there is a rapidly emerging need for a vessel of this capacity, given the scale growth of offshore projects. The benefits for our ultimate clients of dry transports of integrated structures and of large FPSOs are clearly apparent to yards and offshore services firms focused on the future evolution of our markets. As a top class offshore construction yard we are proud that Dockwise has chosen HHI for the construction and timely delivery of this vessel.”

[Pictured: Dockwise new "Type 0" super vessel with estimated lift of 100,000 metric tons. Source: Dockwise]

Source: Dockwise

From mega-yachts to mega-rigs, Dockwise is the company most often called when vessels need to be moved long distances at sea but with offshore projects growing in size even the company’s largest heavy lift ship, the Blue Marlin, is not big enough to carry the latest generation of production rigs. For this reason Dockwise has announced their plan to build a “Super Vessel SGM” capable of lifting more than 100,000 tons of steel and a decksize of 275 m x 70 m.

The vessel will join Allseas in a vision of growth offshore and the need to build a new larger generation of heavy lift ships. André Goedée, the company’s CEO tells us:

The developments in deeper water show a clear trend towards larger structures, be it semi-submersible drilling or production platforms, TLP’s, SPAR Buoy structures or FPSO’s. This new vessel will be larger than the Blue Marlin and a first for the maritime transport industry. Our business rationale for proposing this new build vessel is based on current trends for upcoming projects in the Oil & Gas industry, which indicate that there is a need for this type of larger vessel.

Technical information on the new ship is sparse but it has been confirmed that the vessel will have an open stern design and be optimised for both speed and stability during ocean voyages.