Drydocks World Creates History in Marine and Offshore Operations

Drydocks World Creates History in Marine and Offshore Operations

Drydocks World the internationally renowned provider of maritime and offshore services to the shipping, oil, gas and energy sectors, created history in marine and offshore operations. A marvel of onshore engineering and production operations, this feat was achieved when Drydocks World lifted the 10,000-tonne topside of the first gravity base of the semi-submersible and world’s largest offshore HVDC platform structure DolWin beta to a height of 52.8 metres from the dock bottom.

 His Excellency Khamis Juma Buamim, Chairman of Drydocks World & Maritime World said, “We have taken our engineering excellence to greater heights through this unique and remarkable feat. It is a significant first and speaks volumes of our strengths in terms of technical capabilities. I am sure that the future will bring even more challenging assignments and we will handle them with equal ease. This heavy lift is a hallmark anywhere in the world and in our involvement with offshore projects. In the months ahead we look forward to greater achievements in our operations which will place us on par, if not ahead, with the best in the business.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to the office of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai & Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council for providing us with a helicopter which enabled us obtain aerial coverage of this event and record this momentous occasion for posterity,” he added.

The complex mating operation was carried out on DolWin beta which is under construction at the shipyard. The environmentally friendly system will act as a 900 MW electricity transmission link that will connect offshore wind farms located at the DolWin wind farm area near Helgoland in the German sector of the North Sea. It will be managed by Aibel from Haugesund, Norway. The German company TenneT Offshore has awarded the contract to ABB for the supply of power through the transmission link.

The heavy lift was part of the mating operation of the topsides with the substructure. The operation, which started on December 5, 2013, consisted of lifting topsides by strand jacks and floating the substructure in the dock and then carefully moving it under the lifted topsides. The topsides were then lowered under careful guidance subsequently locking with the substructure. Dedicated teams from Drydocks World, Aibel, ABB and TenneT worked relentlessly for months to achieve this engineering and docking spectacle.

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Drydocks World, December 9, 2013