Damen Presents Decommissioning Vessels Concept

Damen Shipyards Group has announced its latest concept design, the Damen Decommissioning Series.

The vessel will specialize in three core areas of the oil and gas decommissioning sector: topside decommissioning, offshore platform removal, and subsea cleaning and removal.

The design is based on in-house research carried out at Damen by one of its undergraduate interns, the company informed.

The vessel’s monohull design has a split stern, a characteristic that will come into play during platform removal operations, explains Justin Rietveld, student of Maritime Technology at the Rotterdam Mainport University of Applied Sciences.

“This ship will be able to reverse up to a jacket, where it will be ballasted to sink below the platform. Upon deballasting, the vessel will rise up to pick up the platform,” he explained.

According to Damen, the preliminary estimations of the vessel’s capabilities show that it will be able to perform decommissioning of fixed platforms of up to 1,600 tonnes in weight.

The concept design includes modular add-ons. These additions to the existing design include the (temporary) installation of a crane or a helideck. Functionality can be boosted with the addition of accommodation modules to increase personnel capacity. Another option will be the addition of a temporary platform to create a solid stern. The subsequent increase in deck capacity could be used for transporting and installing monopiles and foundations for the offshore wind industry, Damen explained.

Damen manager design & proposal offshore & transport Lucas Zaat said: “We initiated this project because we felt that we can make a difference in this sector – and it has certainly generated some significant ideas. The decommissioning market is close to our current activities. We are therefore planning to continue with this project and assign specialized personnel to implement it.”