Damen: upgrade ‘Stena Don’ is a sign of recovery offshore
Damen Verolme Rotterdam (DVR) has been commissioned by Stena Drilling to perform an upgrade of the semi-submersible drilling rig ‘Stena Don’.
The colossal rig (96 by 67 metres) needs to be fitted with an eight-point mooring system and the hull requires reinforcement to comply with stricter safety legislation. The extensive project will expectedly take about three months. The ‘
Stena Don’ is scheduled to arrive in Rotterdam in October.
Commercial director Bas Loohuis is mainly pleased with the project because it serves as conformation that the oil and gas market is recovering again: ‘The North Sea seems to be one of the first areas where there is light at the end of tunnel again’.
Romania
Part of the work is carried out by other divisions of the Damen group, such as the anchor chain blisters and sponsons, for example. These are currently being manufactured at Damen Shipyards Mangalia in Romania, which was acquired from South Korean Daewoo at the end of last year. Those eight units weigh about 25 tonnes each.
Incidentally, this is the fourth time that DVR is overhauling the seventeen-year-old drilling rig. As recently as three years ago, the ‘Stena Don’ underwent large-scale periodic maintenance and a ‘midlife upgrade’.
The installation of the eight-point mooring system is to ensure that the ‘Stena Don’ is able to operate in more diverse water depths and in more severe weather conditions. Furthermore, the fact that the dynamic positioning system no longer needs to be continuously used results in fuel savings.
Offshore is an important part of the Project Cargo Summit.
Image: Damen Verolme
Author: Rob Mackor
Date: the 20th of August 2018
More news
Fuel prices take a massive nosedive
Fuel prices have taken a massive nosedive since the beginning of the year with low sulphur fuel prices in Singapore dropping from USD 734 per tonne on January 1st to USD 415 per tonne today. The price drop comes at a good time as the transport and logistics industry is struggling with low demand as… Read more ›
Zeamarine closes offices in Denmark
Zeamarine is closing its operations in Denmark. The Danish subsidiary has filed for bankruptcy resulting in the closure of two offices and 23 employees being sent home, confirms local liquidator Hafnia Law. The German breakbulk carrier has two offices in Denmark, one in Naevsted and one in Aarhus, but both offices have now been closed… Read more ›
Manager loses contact with general cargo vessel after pirate attack
Chinese vessel manager Tianjin Xinhai International Ship Management has lost contact with its general cargo vessel Huanghai Glory after the vessel sent a piracy alert using its Ship Security Alert System (SSAS). An unknown number of pirates are believed to have boarded the vessel, which is currently drifting off the coast of Nigeria. The vessel’s… Read more ›