Giant 'Pieter Schelte' Caught on Camera [VIDEO]

Some new video posted to Youtube gives us a rare look at the massive Pieter Schelte, a unique catamaran-like vessel that will soon be used to remove decommissioned oil rigs in the North Sea.

The footage was recently filmed during sea trials near the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering shipyard in Okpo, South Korea, where the ship is being built for the Swiss-based offshore pipe installation and subsea construction company, Allseas Group.

Pieter Schelte is a single-lift platform installation and decommissioning vessel particularly suited for the removal of large steel jacket-based platforms in the North Sea. It will measure 382 meters long by 124 meters wide and features a 58 meter-wide slot at the bow where horizontal lifting beams will be capable of lifting topsides and jackets up to 48,000 tonnes and 25,000 tonnes, respectively. As you can see in the video, the vessel appears to be nearly fully ballasted, but when in use it will have an operating draft ranging from 10 to 25 meters (32 to 82 feet).

DSME has been building the ship for Allseas since 2010, but its concept dates back to 1987 when it was first developed by Allseas founder Edward Heerema, who has described the project as the biggest bet of his career (it has been rumored to cost $3 billion). Allseas is even already planning a second, larger ship with a lifting capacity up to 50% greater.

So far, footage of the giant Pieter Schelte has been rare and this is the first known video of the ship at sea. Later this year, however, it will be moved to Rotterdam where finally assembly will take place, so something tells me we are about to be seeing a lot more of this thing.

Check out the video of the ship is below:

Bloomberg spliced a bit of video together to show how she works, check it out here:

Here are some photos of the ship during those sea trials:

Photos courtesy Allseas

Pieter Schelte Particulars:

Length overall (incl. tilting lift beam and stinger): 477 m (1,565 ft)
Length overall (excl. tilting lift beam and stinger): 382 m (1,253 ft)
Length between perpendiculars: 370 m (1,214 ft)
Breadth: 124 m (407 ft)
Depth to main deck: 30 m (98 ft)
Slot length: 122 m (400 ft)
Slot width: 59 m (194 ft)
Topsides lift capacity: 48,000 t (105,820 kips)
Jacket lift capacity: 25,000 t (55,116 kips)
Stinger length (incl. transition frame): 210 m (690 ft)
Operating draught: 10-25 m (32-82 ft)
Maximum speed: 14 knots
Total installed power: 95,000 kW
Accommodation: 571 persons
Dynamic positioning system: LR DP (AAA), fully redundant Kongsberg K-Pos DP-22 and 2 x cJoy system
Deck cranes: 3 x Pipe transfer cranes of 50 t (110 kips) at 33 m (108 ft), 1 x Special purpose crane of
600 t (1,323 kips) at 20 m (66 ft)
Work stations: Double-joint factory with 5 line-up stations and 2 stations for combined external and internal welding; Main firing line with 6 welding stations for double joints, 1 NDT station and 6 coating stations
Tensioner capacity: 4 x 500 t (4 x 1,102 kips)
Pipe diameters: From 2″ to 68″ OD
Pipe cargo capacity (deck): 27,000 t