Subsea Vessels of 2017

During 2017 we’ve seen an increased number of subsea vessels starting their first campaigns, being delivered and newbuilds ordered as the industry sets eyes on the market recovery.

TechnipFMC and DOF Subsea PLSVs, as well as Helix well intervention vessels started operations in Brazil. McDermott snapped up “Ceona Amazon” and boosted its subsea capacity.

Subsea 7 refreshed its fleet with two newbuild vessels, Seven Arctic and Seven Kestrel. COSCO started delivering Maersk Supply Service’s Stingray ships, after agreed delivery delay.

Nexans marked the start of the construction for its cable-laying vessel at Uljanik, while NKT Cables received ‘Ship of the Year 2017’ prize in Norway for its cable layer NKT Victoria, delivered in 2017 as part of ABB cabling business acquisition.

Singapore-based Ultra Deep Solutions were also very busy this year with their newbuild program. The company additionally signed a letter of intent in December 2017 to build a SALT 310 well intervention vessel at China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI) yard in Shenzhen.

Here is a collection of some of the many vessel-related news from last year:

TechnipFMC and DOF Subsea joint venture has taken delivery of a newbuild pipelay support vessel (PLSV) the Skandi Búzios.

The PLSV started its 8-year charter contract with Petrobras on April 13, 2017.

Offshore services player Helix Energy Solutions has kicked off its well intervention services campaign offshore Brazil under a multi-year contract with Petrobras.

The vessel Siem Helix 1 was initially rescheduled to start operations between July 22, 2016 and October 21, 2016. However, Helix moved up its expectations to start commercial operations in Q1 of 2017, claiming that the well intervention newbuild had still been working through the inspection and acceptance process with Petrobras.

McDermott has acquired the newly-built pipelay and construction vessel Amazon to boost its ultradeepwater and SURF fleet portfolio.

The vessel name was changed from “Ceona Amazon” to “Amazon”. McDermott said it plans to upgrade the vessel with a J-lay system, and also to make minor investments to bring the vessel up to company standards. As McDermott finalizes its upgrade plans, the company plans to use the vessel on existing construction and pipelay projects.

Subsea 7, a provider of seabed-to-surface engineering, construction and services, has taken delivery of two newbuild vessels, Seven Arctic and Seven Kestrel.

With this delivery, Subsea 7 has completed its fleet investment programme that has added six newbuild vessels to the company’s fleet since 2014.

Farstad Shipping has taken delivery of the light construction/IMR vessel ‘Far Superior’ from Vard Group.

Construction has been conducted by Vard Vung Tau in Vietnam, and the vessel will begin its long-term framework agreement with TechnipFMC Norge for a firm period of 5 years and up to 5 years options.

Jan De Nul’s new multipurpose vessel ‘Daniel Bernoulli’ has been launched from the slipway at the AVIC shipyard in China.

It is the sister vessel of the recently launched ‘Adhémar de Saint-Venant‘. Several different equipment sets can be installed on the vessels, which will provide them with a capacity to conduct subsea rock installation, subsea trenching, installation of cables and umbilicals and installation works by means of a heave compensated crane.

Fugro’s geophysical & hydrographic survey newbuild, the Fugro Venturer, made its maiden voyage to the deep waters of Ireland’s Atlantic margin and the far North of the Barents Sea.

Venturer is the newest of Fugro’s successful purpose-designed, standardised survey vessels, originally formulated in 2013.

COSCO (Dalian) Shipyard has delivered a subsea support vessel “Maersk Installer” to offshore marine contractor Maersk Supply Service (MSS).

Back in August 2014, a subsidiary of COSCO Shipyard Group secured contracts valued over USD 470 million from Maersk Supply Service to build four subsea support vessels.

Harvey Gulf International Marine has taken delivery of the second 340′ Multi-Purpose Support Vessel (MPSV) Harvey Blue-Sea.

Harvey Gulf now owns and operates the two largest US flag construction vessels in the US Gulf of Mexico, having taken delivery of the sister vessel Harvey Sub-Sea in July of 2017, the company said.

Nexans has started the construction of a new cable-laying vessel for submarine HV cable systems installation.

Built by Uljanik, a Croatia-based shipyard, the new Nexans vessel is designed for worldwide installation of large volumes of HVDC and HVAC cable systems. The vessel covers the complete Nexans submarine product range, and has a 10 000-tonne capacity turntable, the company said.

NKT Cables has taken delivery of the cable-laying vessel from Norwegian shipbuilder Kleven.

The build number 372, previously known as ABB Victoria, is part of the acquisition of ABB HV Cables business which was wrapped up in March 1, 2017.

Keppel Singmarine, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M), has delivered a multi-purpose ice-class vessel to New Orient Marine, a subsidiary of Luxembourg-based Maritime Construction Services.

MPV Everest can carry out subsea repair and construction activities at 3000 metres of water depth, well intervention, diving support services with an 18-men twin-bell system, fire-fighting and emergency rescue operations, as well as towing and the provision of supplies in Arctic terrain.

Singapore-based Ultra Deep Solutions has signed a letter of intent to build a SALT 310 well intervention vessel at China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI) yard in Shenzhen.

The vessel, 162 meters by 32 meters, will be capable of well intervention, flex lay and rigid pipe lay in 3000 meter water depths. The 3-in-1 tower designed by Huisman is said to be the first of it’s kind ever built.

Subsea World News Staff