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Heavylift: competition intensifies

The heat is on in the heavylift sector

While several sectors in the maritime industry continue to struggle and try to pull back from orders, many of those in the heavylift sector are demonstrating their faith in the long-term prospects by pressing on with orders. 2010 will see a number of newbuild heavylift vessels arrive in the market and certainly the year is likely to see competition intensify. Amsterdam-based heavylift operator BigLift Shipping will take delivery of all five of its “Happy D-vessels” (D4 type) this year, with the first to be delivered in mid August. The others will follow in six-week intervals. Under construction at the Ouhua yard in China, all five heavylift newbuilds are fitted with two 400-tonne and one 120-tonne crane. BigLift also has two heavylift vessels, the Happy Sky and Happy Star, being built at Hazira in India. These two vessels will be equipped with two 900-tonne cranes, representing a total lifting capacity of 1,800 tonnes. These two will come into service in 2011.

Flexibility key for cranes

In a few months time, Seaway Heavy Lifting will take delivery of its $460 million second heavylift crane vessel, the HLV Oleg Strashnov. With an engineering office in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands, Seaway Heavy Lifting is originally a Norwegian/Russian firm, founded by Stolt-Nielsen-Seaway A/S and PO Kaliningradmorneftegaz in 1991. Willem van der Velde, chief operating officer, comments on the reasons why the company decided to invest in a second heavylift vessel: “The world’s crane vessel fleet is relatively old,” he points out. Even though the company’s first heavylift vessel, the Stanislav Yudin, was built in 1985 it is still actually quite modern, he stresses, with the average age of the fleet above 25 years. There is a great deal of future potential in the market, he adds. “New platforms need to be installed and many platforms built in the 1970s and 1980s will need to be removed in the coming decades.” The Stanislav Yudin has also been working flat out, but it has now reached its technical limits after going through several upgrades. Starting life with a 1,600-tonne crane capacity, this was gradually increased to its present 2,500-tonne capability.

Oleg Strashnov has been built at IHC Merwede in the Netherlands. The new heavylift vessel takes the company into the market for very large structures because it will be fitted with a huge crane capacity of 5,000 tonnes in revolving mode and this is combined with a very fast sailing speed. As well as installation and decommissioning work, Seaway Heavy Lifting is also considering kitting out the vessel with full pipe-laying capabilities. A semi-submersible was considered but the company was keen that the new heavylift vessel should be able to mobilise very quickly so chose a “ship shape”, enabling the vessel to achieve high sailing speeds. The vessel has a unique patented hull shape – the dual draught – that will allow it to sail at a speed of 14 knots. Uniquely, Seaway Heavy Lifting and MSCGusto have designed the heavylift vessel so it can be ballasted in and out of the water depending on the motion behaviour.

Workability and flexibility were key factors when deciding on the design, says Richard den Hollander, marketing manager, Middle East & India. Oleg Strashnov has much faster mobilisation/demobilisation abilities compared to competitors. And it has a special, hinged A-frame that is designed to fold so the vessel can easily transit under bridges and transit the Suez Canal, the Bosphorus and Baltic easily. “Many of our competitors cannot do this and have to sail around the Cape in Africa,” stresses den Hollander. The hook height is also very high as it is able to reach 102 metres above sea level and the auxiliary block can reach heights of 134 metres above sea level. The new heavylift vessel has dynamic positioning capability, as well as an eight-point mooring system, meaning it can either get very close to a structure or stand-off at anchor. Den Hollander says dynamic positioning capabilities are important with oil and gas exploration going into deeper and deeper waters.

Beluga

As newbuild heavylift vessels head into service, several new arrivals have already joined the world’s heavylift fleet. Beluga Shipping’s new flagship, the Beluga Houston, performed its maiden voyage in December last year, loading two reactors in Yokohama, Japan. Destined for Aratu in Brazil, each reactor weighed 485 tonnes and measured 21 metres. Then in the next port of loading in South Korea, another three reactors were loaded. Beluga Houston is the first representative of a new generation of multipurpose heavylift project carriers. The heavylift vessels have a maximum lifting capacity of 1,400 tonnes and belong to the P1/P2-series of the Bremen-based shipping company.

A total of 16 units of the two new P-types, with loading capacities of up to 20,000 tonnes, will be in operation by 2011, meaning that Beluga will have the largest super heavylift fleet in the world. All of these heavylift vessels possess an extra deck for cadets and at least two of the P-series vessels will be equipped with the towing kite system SkySails to increase efficiency and so they can be more environmentally friendly.

Jumbo

Meanwhile, Jumbo Shipping’s latest heavylift newbuild, HLV Jumbo Jubilee, completed its maiden voyage after loading, transporting and installing two 1,250 tonne shiploaders for FLSmidth. Jumbo Jubilee, which is capable of 17-knots service speed, started its first voyage from its home port of Rotterdam and set sail for Vitória, Brazil. Two shiploaders, with a processing capacity of 16,000 tonnes of iron ore an hour, were loaded relatively easily. But in Tubarão, where offloading and installation were due, there was more of a challenge.

Tubarão port is half open to the sea and is continuously subjected to swell which can vary between 0.20 metres and 1.10 metres. Jumbo’s Engineering Department analysed swell statistics of the last 10 years and used detailed weather forecasts and computer analysis to predict behaviour. To leave nothing to chance, a Motion Reference Unit was used to register actual ship movements. The shiploader was lifted on board the heavylift, brought to Tubarão and installed safely on its rails.

SAL

SAL Shipping is another company that is looking to the future by ordering heavylift vessels with the capability to take on larger and more complex jobs. In July this year, the company placed orders with the Sietas shipyard for the construction of two new-generation Type 183 heavylift vessels. SAL claims that the newbuildings, slated for delivery in December 2010 and March 2011, will be the largest and most modern heavylift ships in the world, with a combined lifting capacity of 2,000 tonnes (2 x 1,000 tonnes) and a speed of up to 20 knots. The heavylift vessels can trade with an open hatch and accommodate exceptionally large loads, giving the flexibility to cope with a wide range of tasks, including wind energy, offshore/oil and gas industries, industrial plants and other sectors. The heavylift vessels will be equipped with DP1, allowing them to take on sub-sea installation work.

Over the course of 2009, SAL has opened two additional offices, one in Australia and one in Finland. The Australian office, in Fremantle, was opened in August, and is part of a wider strategic plan to accommodate the growing shipping demand from the resources sectors in Australasia, said director Berndt R Olesen. “Many of our large clients, including BHP and Woodside, are based in Western Australia and with around $200 billion worth of oil and gas projects in the pipeline, the future of the Australian industry looks certain despite the downturn in international oil and gas production.” In September, SAL’s Maria loaded four caissons of 320 tonnes each, measuring 21 x 10 x 11.50 m in Penglai, China destined for a new mining project in Cape Preston, Australia. The four caissons, which were contracted on a last in-first out voyage, were directly lowered into the water and installed onto a foundation beneath the water surface at Cape Preston by the heavylift ship’s own gear.

BBC Chartering

At the beginning of 2010, BBC Chartering predicted in its annual review and lookout that 2010 could be a difficult year for the industry. Whilst some 80% of the $1 billion plus projects that had been stopped due to frozen credits have been released again, and oil and gas exploration are driving a number of major infrastructure projects: “all these positive indicators are not changing the fact that we have to face a tough year. The existing tonnage is more than capable to cover the present and medium term market volumes,” said a spokesperson for the company. Despite this, BBC has itself embarked on what it describes as an “aggressive” newbuilding programme, aimed at the long-term needs of the market.

Combi-Lift

Combi-Lift, a JV between Denmark’s Poulsen Shipping and Germany’s Harren & Partner, took delivery in January of the Combi Dock IV, the final vessel in a series of four multipurpose heavylift newbuildings with semi-submersible capabilities. These vessels were ordered as a joint venture between the two partners. Harren has a further six pure heavylift vessels with a lifting capacity of 900 tonnes on order in China, of which four will enter the Combi-Lift pool, while the remaining two will go on long-term charter to another operator. Prospects for the heavylift vessels currently under construction in China look “quite promising,” says Anders Poulsen, due to the high standard of the fleet and capabilities of the crew. “We have a couple of letters of intent, and there are some quite promising associations going on.” However, the effects of the worldwide slowdown became noticeable in the last two or three months of 2009, and 2010 is likely to be difficult for the industry as a whole, he says. Overcapacity will be a serious issue. “Competition is very heavy as some companies have been building too fast just to get turnround,” Poulsen warns. “There is no reason to bring so much tonnage to market – particularly given the need for the right crews and people to run the technical department.”

Building for the future

Although all the heavylift operators expect increasing competition, many of them are showing their confidence in the future. As Van der Velde from Seaway Heavy Lifting says: “We are building for the next 20-25 years.” Den Hollander adds that the market for larger topsides and jackets is growing, so higher capacity heavylift vessels are needed. The new heavylift vessels means that less offshore hook-up work is needed, so schedules can be met more easily.

Arie Peterse, BigLift managing director, says that 2010 and 2011 will certainly be years where the heavylift market will become more competitive. However, he adds, “investments in newbuildings are long term, BigLift is confident that there will be a future for good, well run, heavylift vessels”.

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