Scaldis orders heavy lift vessel ‘Rambiz 4000’

Scaldis, an Antwerp-based specialist in marine heavy lift operations, has ordered a new crane ship, the Rambiz 4000, from the Dutch company Royal IHC.  

The vessel will be built under responsibility and coordination of Royal IHC in Qidong and finished in Xiamen, China.

Scaldis has said that the ship is ordered to further support and expand the services, including the installation of offshore infrastructures and decommissioning-deconstruction activities for the oil and gas industry as well as the installation of offshore wind farms.

Furthermore, the ship can also be used for any type of marine related heavy lifting work in challenging situations, such as the construction of bridge components and clearing subsea obstacles.

The Rambiz 4000 will have two Huisman cranes each with a lifting capacity of 2,000 tons, based on a design by Vuyk. The ship will also also has extra carrying capacity of 3,000 tons. The cranes can be moved by 25 m on the ship, allowing the deck to be used to transport and then relocate cargo at a later stage.

The ship and the cranes are an integrated design which allows the maximum load to be hoisted in significant wave heights of up to 1.5 m. In these circumstances, the freeboard is not less than 3 m anywhere on the vessel, Scaldis has said.

In standby or transport modes, significant wave height can be as much as 7.0 m. The company has said that the maximum load can be lifted in water depths of around 5.0 m.

The four azimuth thrusters and the DP2 system will also allow installation work to be conducted in deeper water without the use of anchors. This guarantees flexibility and efficiency and also means that work can be carried out in zones where many pipelines and cables already lie on the bed, for example. The crane ship is also equipped with 4 main working anchors and winches and 4 secondary devices.

The ship will be equipped with a so-called ‘moonpool’ for the purposes of operating a separate ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) for inspecting and supervising installation work on the seabed. Also, the presence of heavy fenders allows containers to be loaded/unloaded at sea. Delivery is scheduled for spring 2017.