Pioneering Spirit (ship)

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Pioneering Spirit is the world's largest platform installation/decommissioning and pipelay vessel built for the Allseas company.[1] The ship is also by far the world's largest vessel overall ever constructed in terms of its gross tonnage of 403,342 gt, as well as its breadth (123.75 m/406 ft) and displacement (900,000 metric tons).[2] The main construction was done at Daewoo shipyard, Korea and final completion will be in the Netherlands. Main diesel power comprises eight MAN 11.5 MW engines and one 4 MW harbour engine with two engines each in four separate engine rooms[3] with 12 Rolls Royce 5.5 MW thrusters.[4] The vessel was designed by a Finnish engineering company Deltamarin. Allseas¹ has committed to build Pioneering Spirit at a cost of US$1.7 billion. In an interview with De Telegraaf"[5] chairman Heerema named a price of €2.4 billion for the 382 metres (1,253 ft) long vessel. AllSeas has committed to building an even larger version of the same design, which will be operational in 2020.[6]

Progress

Long-lead items, such as the power generation equipment and the thrusters, were ordered in March 2007.[7] In June 2008 the high-tensile steel for the jacket and topsides lift systems was ordered.[8] The hydraulic cylinders were installed by Apex Hydraulics on the A&R Winch reacting to a 480 bar test pressure.[9] According to Allseas, the conceptual design of Pioneering Spirit and the basic design of the novel twin hulls was completed by Swan Hunter in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. The basic design of the lifting systems was completed by the end of 2008 and detail design of the hulls by May 2010.[10] In June 2010 the main construction contract was signed with South Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd at Geoje.[10]

In 2013 the hull was launched at Daewoo and arrived on January 8, 2015 for completion in the Alexiahaven, Maasvlakte 2, Port of Rotterdam.

Naming controversy

The ship was at first named after marine engineer Pieter Schelte Hereema, father of Allseas' owner Edward Heerema; however, on February 9, 2015 Allseas stated that the name will be changed to "Pioneering Spirit".[11][12]

The original name created a controversy due to Pieter Schelte Heerema's service in the Waffen-SS during World War II, prior to August 1943. Schelte Heerema subsequently disappeared and joined the resistance in the Netherlands. After the war he was arrested and sentenced to jail for three years because he was assistant director of a Dutch company that conscripted slave laborers for the Nazi war effort, according to the Dutch National Institute for War Documentation.[13] The court later released him after one and a half years on account of his "very important services to the resistance between August 1943 and March 1944."[14]

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "Pieter Schelte". allseas.com.
  2. ↑ http://www.lr.org/en/_images/213-48700_LR_Horizons_January_2015_spreads.pdf
  3. ↑ http://maritimereporter.marinelink.com/page.aspx/200707/13/
  4. ↑ "Rolls-Royce delivers thrusters for Pieter Schelte". offshore-mag.com.
  5. ↑ "Grootste schip ter wereld komt naar NL-Buitenland- Telegraaf.nl". telegraaf.nl.
  6. ↑ http://www.allseas.com/public/2013-1111%20Allseas%20to%20build%20a%20single-lift%20vessel%20larger%20than%20Pieter%20Schelte.pdf
  7. ↑ Beckman, Jeremy (April 2007). "Pieter Schelte the heavyweight contender for North Sea abandonment program". Offshore. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
  8. ↑ "Allseas orders steel for newbuild construction vessel". Offshore. 19 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
  9. ↑ "Allseas – Pieter Schelte Cylinders Case Study". Retrieved 2013-08-17.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Development schedule". Allseas. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  11. ↑ Allseas gezwicht voor ophef rond Pieter Schelte http://www.maritiemnederland.com/nieuws/de-pieter-schelte-krijgt-een-andere-naam/item1569
  12. ↑ "Allseas renames Pieter Schelte". 9 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  13. ↑ http://news.yahoo.com/jewish-groups-condemn-nazi-linked-name-giant-ship-143810803.html
  14. ↑ Sterling, Toby (2008-11-07), "Dutch outcry over naming giant ship after Nazi", USATODAY, Associated Press, retrieved 2014-11-25

External links

Crane ship "Pioneering Spirit", formerly Pieter Schelte in 2015
Career
Name: Pioneering Spirit (formerly Pieter Schelte)
Owner: Société d'exploitation Pieter Schelte NV, Belgium (Allseas Engineering BV, Delft, Netherlands
Operator: Allseas Marine Contractors SA, Châtel-Saint-Denis, Switzerland
Port of registry: Panama City,  Panama
Builder: Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co, Geoje
Yard number: 3401
Launched: 26 January 2013
Identification: Callsign 3FBR6
IMO number: 9593505
MMSI number: 357477000
General characteristics [1]
Tonnage:403,342 GT
Length:382 m (1,253 ft) (hull)
477 m (1,565 ft) (maximum)
Beam:124 m (407 ft)
Draft:10–25 m (33–82 ft)
Depth:30 m (98 ft)
Installed power:Eight diesel generators
95,000 kW (combined)
Propulsion:Diesel-electric; 12 azimuth thrusters
Speed:14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Crew:Accommodation for 571
  1. ↑