Interesting Ships of The Week – Blue Dolphin and HOS Centerline

This weeks interesting ships are none other than the Blue Dolphin and HOS Centerline, the two vessels used to supply drilling mud to the Q4000 as part of the Static Kill procedure to secure the blown out Macondo well.  The two vessels and their crew were challenged with an extraordinary task but performed just as they were built and trained to do.  We would like to extend our thanks and gratitude to them and all the mariners working around the clock to put an end to (and cleanup) this catastrophe.

Keep reading after the jump for some details on these two exceptional vessels.

HOS Centerline:

Hornbeck Offshore Services HOS Centerline is the world’s largest and most capable supply vessel.  The Jones Act qualified 370′ multi-purpose support vessel (MPSV), designed with an 8,000+ deadweight-ton capacit,y represents the largest and most diverse DP-2 classed offshore supply vessel available today. The HOS Centerline is the only vessel in the world to have received certifications by the United States Coast Guard allowing operations as a supply vessel, industrial/construction vessel and as a petroleum and chemical tanker.

Added to Hornbeck’s fleet in February 2009, the HOS Centerline has the capacity to transport more than 30,000 barrels of liquid drilling mud and fuel to and from exploration, development and production projects. Positive displacement pumping systems allow the vessels to provide a consistent transfer of product even at installations with large air gaps. The HOS Centerline boasts a self-contained mixing and cleaning system that significantly reduces the risk of drilling fluid collapse as well as reduces the time necessary to clean storage tanks, which is a cost normally borne by its customers. Mud mixers utilize low inertia paddles to reduce the fall-out of the mud and provide for a consistent mix. The vessel’s significant size, 8,400 kw of available propulsion, power and DP-2 capability allows it to continue cargo transfer operations during sea and weather conditions that prevent smaller vessels from working.

• Keep Reading about HOS Centerline
• Vessel Specifications (PDF)
  

Blue Dolphin

BJ Services Company’s Blue Dolphin is an ABS® class-certified, dynamically positioned (DP-2) well stimulation vessel capable of servicing a variety of deepwater and ultra-deepwater operations throughout the Gulf of Mexico, including multizone single-trip fracturing, acidizing and sand control projects.

The vessel is equipped with eight state-of-the-art Gorilla™ pumping units that provide 23,000 hydraulic horsepower; 20,000-psi pumps and service iron; and three Coflexip* treating lines that allow up to 80 bbl/min pumping rates. Advanced instrumentation and control systems with broadband satellite communications are also available to allow real-time, remote data transmission.

• Keep reading about Blue Dolphin
• Take the Blue Dolphin Virtual Tour

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