The mighty MSC Kalina, sister ship to the largest container ship ever built (by TEU) the MSC Daniela.

Each month we cover a variety of different photography that pertains to the maritime world around us (you can find many of them in our section Amazing Photos). This time we present you a “mixed bag” of some truly outstanding photos and images, created by talented photographers across the globe. The photos cover a wide range of operations but each was taken in shipyard.

Below you’ll find 15 truly stunning and unusual photos. Every image is linked and leads to the source from which it was taken. Please feel free to explore further works of the talented photographers presented above.

USS George H. W. Bush – Newport News

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Nearly 7 years ago Yantai Raffles Shipyard, in Shandong Province China, recognized that the building of tomorrow’s biggest offshore oil vessels and platforms would require machinery of epic size. To prepare for this future they commissioned the construction of the World’s Largest Crane.

Now, the largest builder of semi-submersible drilling rigs, reached a new milestone by christening of the world’s first fixed dual-beam gantry crane, with an enormous lifting capacity at 20,000 MT, making it the biggest crane in the world.

The new state-of-the-art facility at the Yantai shipyard is named ‘Taisun’, after a famous sacred mountain in the PRC’s Shandong Province reflecting its size, strength and inspirational qualities.

The Christening ceremony was held on April 18 and was well attended by over 600 guests from all over the world. The event commenced with a ribbon cutting session by distinguished guests. Following the opening address by Mr Brian Chang, Chairman of YRS, ‘Taisun’ demonstrated to all attendees its astounding strength by hoisting up a launching barge 30 meters above the water. Independent party American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) witnessed the lift and presented Mr Chang with a “Witness Load Testing” certificate, confirming the capacity of ‘Taisun’ at 20,133 MT; a heavy lift world record.

‘Taisun’ now entering into commercial service, has been earmarked for at least nine lifts over the next 24 months. It will revolutionize the way large offshore projects such as semi-submersibles and FPSOs are built. By providing a perfectly safe, uniquely controllable and highly cost effective way to join super sections of up to 20,000 MT, the hours spent working at great heights will be significantly reduced. As a result, overall project man-hours can be improved upon by up to 2 million, overall build schedules and time-to-market shortened, and safety and quality greatly improved.

In a press statement made by Mr Haldor Fottland, Area Manager of Awilco Offshore, it said, “Awilco Offshore Semi AS congratulates YRS on the christening of the 20,000 MT crane. The introduction of this big crane certainly opens up for more efficient project execution. We are glad to see the ‘Taisun’ crane operating, and we look forward to experience it in full action with the mating lift for our first semi-submersible rig.”

The Proposed Site

Groundbreaking

Laying The Foundation

Building The Towers

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Photo By gCaptain

Today’s Photo Of The Week is an HDR view of Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI)- Shipyard in Geoje, South Korea. This photo was taken from the crown of a newbuild drillship’s derrick. Notice the 5 heavy lift sheerleg cranes in the background.

More photos from gCaptain’s shipyard collection here: SHI Shipyard Korea

For more amazing HDR photos don’t miss this blog’s HDR Ship Photos tag or gCaptain’s HDR Flickr Tag.
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Geoholm Fourchon Sunset

The above photo is from Flickr user whink27’s photostream.  Click on the image for some more really great pictures of various workoats in the GOM from whink27’s.

Thanks to gCaptain member studbuzzer for bringing it to our attention on this thread of the forum.

Maritime Photographer Frodog brings us this HD image of the infamous MSC Napoli in drydock. He writes:

In a Dry Dock aft of the Resolution was this Hulk of a ship, being broken up. it transpired to be the Napoli, which ran aground around about this time last year, off the Devon and Dorset coast, with many items of her cargoes washing ashore, including BMW motor cycles amongst other stuff, which bounty hunters rightly claimed ownership. Whilst looking around, there was a decontamination unit working. What are they decontaminating? I ask. I was lucky enough not to be asked not to take photographs, unlike a colleague of mine who was prevented from doing so! LINK

On June 12, efforts to remove the final section of the wrecked container ship got under way as salvors working to raise the stern – including the ship’s 1,400-tonne engine – laid new chains under the hull to help them lift it off the sea bed . Salvors aim to bring the remains of the vessel to the surface by August so it can be scrapped.

Read the latest on the MSC Napoli salvage operation at BBC HERE

These photos show the laying of the bow section of a new drillship being built in South Korea. Click on the photos for more details or HERE for more shipyard photos from this set.

This week two photos tie for top billing. The first headlines the tour of photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand titled “Earth From Above“. It shows the Canadian icebreaker Lois Saint Laurent steaming through Resolute Bay. The second photo, taken in 1994 by LCDR Steve Wheeler, shows the Russian icebreaker Yamal, Canadian icebreaker Louis S. St. Laurent and the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Sea as they rendezvous near the North Pole.

This is a photo of the Carnival Liberty underway sea taken by Ryan Coleman. You can find more of his photos HERE.

Our Favorite Maritime Photographer, Houston Pilot Lou Vest, has donated a few of his amazing photos to the pilot association’s charitable foundation, Anchor Watch. They will use the images to produce a 2008 calendar with the proceeds funding scholarships to maritime schools, sea scout troops, the Houston maritime museum and other worthy causes.

Purchase details and a preview of the images can be found on Lou’s Flickr page: LINK