Drydocks World finalizing conversion of FSRU Toscana
Drydocks World, the leading maritime services provider, after the naming ceremony held yesterday by OLT LNG Offshore Toscana, announced that the FSRU Toscana conversion project at the Dubai based shipyard, is going to be finalized. The Floating Storage and Re-gasification Unit is intended for a 20 year design life 12 nautical miles off the shores of north-west Italy, in the waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea close to Livorno, said in a press release.
The Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carrier Golar Frost, a 2004 Korean built 288.6m x 48 m vessel with a design draught of 11m and lightweight of 34,000 tonnes and storage capacity of 135,000 cu. m of LNG, came to Dubai in June 2009 for conversion for contractor Saipem and client OLT Offshore LNG Toscana SpA. This is one of the most sophisticated conversion projects carried out by the shipyard.
“This is indeed a tremendous achievement and a testimonial to our technical and project management capabilities that enable us to take on projects of a high level of sophistication and advancement. We are indeed keen to take on increasingly challenging projects for the offshore deep sea exploration and production sector as we have proven time and again that we have the capacity and capability to implement projects for leaders in the offshore industry in a timely manner, while maintaining high standards in safety and quality,” said Khamis Juma Buamim, Chairman of Drydocks World and Maritime World.
The scope of work for the shipyard included:
· Detailed Engineering: – major achievements include complete turret construction methodology brainstormed and worked out by the Yard’s engineers such that there were no damages to the Inconel cladding of the turret bearings. In addition the nearly 2000 tonnes Re-gasification module T-16 was an engineering challenge to lift and install onboard.
· Procurement: – with restrictions to sourcing the material required for the various grades of piping, mainly Cunifer and Cryo and the stringent MED and 3.2 certification requirements Procurement was never something less than an ongoing challenge.
· Construction: - the Project can well boast of carrying out routine complex works as part of the scope related to Topsides such as the fabrication and installation of the 600 tonnes, 25 m high external turret and turret mooring system, installation of the prototype four loading arms 75 MT each, lifting, installation and tie-ins for the 2100 MT re-gasification T-16 and the 400 MT T-20 wobbe index modules. Installation and tie-ins for the two 10000 Kw STGs and installation of the unique articulated-type vent tower are other significant firsts. In all 97,272 inch-dia of piping, including exotic material for cryogenic piping and over 320 Km of cable pulling was completed for the Project. Extensive piping fabrication works including stainless steel piping for handling of LNG cargo at minus 163 deg and insulating with PUF type material was carried out. Major Vessel and Topside works carried out were chain table replacement for the turret mooring system, side by side berthing mooring system installation, modification of cargo pump tower internal structure and installation of retractable cargo pumps, installation of the pipe rack module, product sea water systems piping with diameters up to 52”. Total steel tonnage fabricated and installed for vessel conversion was 4,400 tonnes and was compliant with the highest quality standards in the maritime industry.
· Pre- Commissioning and Assistance to Final Commissioning: - Final commissioning of newly installed HVAC system was completed by the yard and their sub-contractors. In addition the yard has provided support to the client for other commissioning works such as cool down of cryogenic piping, Boiler flash up, performance trial run of power generators, harbor acceptance test of aft thruster and leak test of the natural gas piping.
What is commendable is that all of the above was completed consuming 9.57 million man hours with only three LTIs. It is expected that a total of 9.59 million man hours would be consumed by the time of project completion.
The shipyard is involved till the vessel is ready for transportation to site and is presently expected to sail from the shipyard in the second quarter of 2013.
