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 20-cylinder (20V32/44CR) MAN 11,200 kW (each) engines and one 9-cylinder (9L32/44CR) 5,040 kW harbour engine with two engines each in four separate engine rooms (the engines with a total of 169 cylinders generate a total output of 94.6 MW)[3] with 12 Rolls Royce, type UUC 455, thrusters, each 5.5 MW.[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 Heerema, 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

External links

Crane ship "Pioneering Spirit", formerly Pieter Schelte in 2015
History
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:
General characteristics [1]
Tonnage: 403,342 GT
Displacement: 900,000 tonnes
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:
  • 9 × MAN Diesel&Turbo diesel generators;
  • 8 × 20V32/44CR (each 11,200 kW) and 1 x 9L32/44CR (5,040 kW)
  • 94,640 kW (combined)
Propulsion: Diesel-electric; 12 x Rolls - Royce UUC 455 azimuth thrusters, each 5,500 kW
Speed: 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Crew: Accommodation for 571
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