HHI built a 340,000-ton FSO on shore, a landmark event in shipbuilding/offshore technology

abarrelfullabarrelfull wrote on 17 Jul 2012 12:27
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2002-08-01

Hyundai Heavy Industries (CEO: Choi Gil-seon) announced that it succeeded in launching a mammoth-size 340,000-DWT (light weight: 50,000-ton) FSO (Floating Storage & Offloading) after completion of building it onshore, instead of in a dry dock, for the first time in the world. The announcement also said that this was a landmark event in the history of technology of manufacturing an FSO.

Under the epoch-making method, a total of 260 large-sized blocks were produced and assembled completely onshore, and then they were loaded on a barge through a means of skidding. The barge was moved to the open sea and submerged down to 20m below the surface, and then the FSO was launched. This method makes it possible to build an FSO without using a dry dock thus reducing the cost and time required for shipbuilding. The feat is attracting the attention from those in the industry.

In another similar feat back in 2000, HHI delivered a mammoth-size oil platform to the client R&B Falcon of the U.S. after completion of building in onshore also for the first time in the world. The event this time is particularly meaningful in that it was the first completely vessel-shaped FSO built onshore. Preparation is under way by the shipbuilder for application of a patent both in Korea and in major countries.

The 300m (L) x 62m (W) x 32m (H)-sized (about three times as large as a soccer field) FSO was ordered from Total Fina Elf of France in September 2000. It also has living quarters where a total of 130 persons can live together. This facility is to be installed at a point 61m deep in the Amenam Oil Field about 35km from the east coast of Nigeria.

HHI expects that this landmark event will help the company to further advance into the international market as it proved its ability to realize customers’ diversified demands without having to limit its operation according to availability of a dry dock.

The newly built FSO is scheduled to start sailing at the end of October and be installed at its final destination by the end of February 2003.


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