Construction Begins on World's First Rock Installation Ship
On April 6th, 2015, Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group (SINOPACIFIC) Zhejiang Shipyard started the construction of E169 rock installation vessel, the first of its kind in the world.
This confirms SINOPACIFIC’s strategic focus of manufacturing medium to high-end Specialized Offshore Vessels and is the first step in transforming and upgrading the product portfolio. In addition to the company’s achievements in the Offshore Support Vessel segment (OSV), SINOPACIFIC has been extending its product range to include value-added products such as Specialized Offshore Vessels and has recently launched an in-house design for an Offshore Construction Vessel (OCV) so as to continue offering high level products and services as well as a brand experience to the global offshore oil and gas industry.
Since signing the shipbuilding deal with Van Oord of the Netherlands last September, SINOPACIFIC has already initiated activities related to engineering, procurement and construction of E169 Rock Installation Vessel. Leveraging project risk control and close collaboration with the Classification Society, ship owner and related parties, SINOPACIFIC has successfully reached the first construction milestone for this vessel.
The E169 Rock Installation Vessel uses a three-level Dynamic Positioning System (DP3). As the highest dynamic positioning system as defined by IMO (International Maritime Organization), DP3 is the best-in-class vessel positioning system with the highest levels of precision and anti-risk capability and this “Magical Anchor” system involves a complicated integrated control system. Furthermore, based on high design standards, this vessel not only sets high standards in terms of personnel safety and environmental protection in marine operations, but avoids any manual handling of equipment due to a highly mechanized configuration. Moreover, this vessel also complies with the COMF NOISE 1 and COMF VIB 1 classification.
To build the first vessel of this class in the world, SINOPACIFIC Zhejiang Shipyard has closely communicated and cooperated with professional elites in various sectors. Zhejiang Shipyard has established an effective communication and dialogue mechanism with a number of leading suppliers, including Bakker Sliedrecht, (manufacturers of power system) Schottel (main propulsion thruster), Bunvoll (tunnel thruster) and MAK (main engines). Zhejiang Shipyard has, by combining the know-how and experience of both internal and external professionals, successfully dealt with a number of design challenges.
To mark the commencement of shipbuilding for this new vessel, Simon Liang, Chairman and CEO of SINOPACIFIC, extended his thanks and appreciation to all parties and partners involved. At the same time, he underlined the fact that as a whole, China’s shipbuilding industry lacks a comprehensive understanding of the offshore culture represented by Northern Europe. “There is still a long way to go for Chinese shipbuilders to establish equal dialogue and effective communication with the senior ‘players’ in this field. Therefore, to narrow this gap, SINOPACIFIC has been constantly intensifying its EPCC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning) capability to be able to offer sophisticated offshore solutions to customers in the near future.”
The products and services herein described in this press release are not endorsed by The Maritime Executive.