Havyard Clinches Havila Phoenix Conversion Gig

Havyard Ship Technology’s shipyard in Leirvik in Norway has won the contract for a major conversion of the subsea vessel “Havila Phoenix”.

Havila Shipping has signed contract with Deep Ocean who has chartered the subsea vessel Havila Phoenix for cable laying and trenching operations. The contract is for seven years with four one-year options and means that the vessel needs to undergo a major conversion before commencing the contract. Havyard Ship Technology will do the conversion, which is scheduled to be finished in March 2014.

Lengthening and new equipment

Havila Phoenix is a Havyard 858 design, delivered from Havyard’s shipyard in Leirvik as a construction vessel in 2009. Since then the vessel has had different charterers and executed several different operations in connection with subsea oil production installations. The contract with Deep Ocean includes cable laying and trenching for offshore windmill installations. To enable the vessel for these operations it needs to be lengthened with 17,4 m to accommodate the new equipment. The lengthening means that close to 700 tons of new steel will be installed.

There will be installed a lot of new equipment both on and below the cargo deck. The stern will be reinforced and a 250 tonnes A-frame will be installed, operating together with the existing offshore crane for launching the biggest trencher. This trencher is the world’s largest self-propelled trencher. Equipment for launching a smaller trencher over the side will also be installed.

A big part of the conversion will be to install the cable laying equipment. This includes installation of a horizontal cable drum with capacity to store 2000 tons of cable.

“This is a great contract for us and we are looking forward to the vessel starts operating for Deep Ocean” Kjell Rabben, COO of Havila Shipping replies. “The Havila Phoenix is the biggest subsea vessel in our fleet and has served our company and our clients well since it was delivered. It’s a strength with this design that we are able to secure his job by lengthening and upgrading the vessel. When building this type of vessel it is difficult to predict what requirements future jobs put to the vessel as work platform. Fortunately the design incorporated flexibility to do the necessary conversion.”

“It is positive that Havyard could compete for the job. We have good experience building vessels at Havyard and them knowing the vessel so well makes us sure that the quality of the conversion will the best we can get. This is critical as it enables us to deliver the quality of our services that both we and our clients expects“, concludes Rabben.

Good order book for the shipyard in Leirvik

Havyard Ship Technology’s shipyard in Leirvik has 9 vessels on order where the last one is to be delivered Medio 2015. The building program includes subsea vessels, live fish carrier, PSV, wind-mill support vessels and fishing vessel for ship owners in Norway, Iceland, Nigeria and Denmark.

“We are glad to have a long horizon for our newbuilding contracts“, says Trygve Solaas, Yard director at Havyard Ship Technology in Leirvik. “Building so many different ship types for different ship owners gives us some challenges, but at the same time this is what we are good at. Many shipyards in low cost countries can build series of ships cheaper, but we consider ourselves to be among the best in the world building customized solutions for demanding ship owners that value delivery precision and quality.”

Aims at conversions

“Even though we have a good order book there might be periods where we can utilize extra capacity at the shipyard“, Solaas continues. “Hence, it is positive that we can get jobs as this conversion of Havila Phoenix. We have previously had similar jobs with customized conversions for special operations for Subsea 7 and EMAS amongst others. We won the conversion of Havila Phoenix competing with several Norwegian and foreign shipyards and this proves that we are competitive doing bigger conversions. We hope owners planning such jobs will send us an inquiry. If we have capacity I am sure we can give a good offer the Yard director concludes.”

Key data for “Havila Phoenix” after being converted:

– Length: 127,40 m

– Breadth: 23 m

– Deck area: 1450 m2

– Accommodation: 140 persons

[mappress]

Press Release, September 16, 2013