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Photo: Heavy load for world’s largest heavy lift and transportation vessel

May 11, 2015

Dockwise Vanguard

Boskalis made history in Rotterdam on Friday when it loaded the Armada Intrepid FPSO aboard its largest, actually the world’s largest, heavy lift and transportation vessel, the Dockwise Vanguard.

According to Boskalis, this was the first ship-shaped FPSO loaded onto the 275 meters long Dockwise Vanguard, and the fact that the FPSO weighs 60.000 tones makes it one of the heaviest cargoes ever transported. With a length of 245 meters, the cargo will be the longest transported on the Vanguard to date.

FPSOs are usually transported by tugboats due to their size and so far, due to a lack of big enough heavy lift and transportation ship.

The Armada Intrepid was loaded onto the Dockwise Vanguard in the Caland canal, Port of Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

The reason Boskalis describes the effort as the loading of the first ship shaped FPSO is because this is not the first FPSO to be loaded aboard the heavy lifter. The Dockwise Vanguard last month delivered the Eni Goliat FPSO to Norway. However, the Goliat is an FPSO of an atypical, cylindrical shape.

Offshore Energy Today staff