Technology from Europe:
The Netherlands

Active year for Dutch shipyard

 The Rotterdam-based maritime contractor Keppel Verolme (KV) is one of the oldest participants at the OTC, in Houston. The company recently became part of the global network of Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd. which, at present, combines a total of 15 yards. This network now covers facilities located in the major oil and gas fields in Europe, Gulf of Mexico, Caspian, Brazil, West Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Asia Pacific region. KV, with offshore conversions as its core business, is specifically focused on the North Sea and West African regions. 

Keppel Verolme yard with major offshore rigs/vessel projects underway.

 Looking back at 2002, the offshore industry generated large volumes of work for the company. Major drilling contractors, including ENSCO International, GlobalSantaFe, Noble Drilling, Pride International, Rowan Companies and Smedvig had maintenance, inspection, repair and modification work done on their rigs at the KV yard. One particularly interesting project was renovation of the accommodation unit on the Glomar Labrador 1 jackup. Before the rig arrived at the yard, an accommodation block weighing 160 mt and an office block weighing a further 90 mt had already been designed – using the yard’s own Tribon system – and built. Another special offshore-related project was the upgrade of the FPSO Glas Dowr, operated by Bluewater Energy Systems. 

 During late 2002, a great deal of work was carried out onboard offshore support vessels, such as seismics, survey vessels and pipelayers, as well as other merchant vessels, including tankers, bulkers and ferries. During the same period, engineering/prefab work were simultaneously carried out for conversion of the bulk carrier Rocknes, into the world’s largest DP fallpipe vessel – a complex project done by KV, on behalf of Dutch dredging contractor Van Oord ACZ. Here, too, the Tribon system played a key role. 

 Alongside the Rocknes conversion, KV also carried out modification work at the start of this year onboard the semi rig GSF Arctic III, operated by GlobalSantaFe. To increase the deckload capacity and stability, so-called blister tanks were mounted on the rig’s four corner columns. The deck surface area was also extended, and a third high-pressure mud pump was installed, along with the accommodation unit. In early February 2003, the yard received an order from ENSCO (UK) to extend the accommodation of the ENSCO 92 jackup. The contract also included refurbishment of parts of the existing accommodation. And, during March and April, Stena Drilling Aberdeen awarded the yard a contract to carry out a special periodical survey, with associated repair and maintenance work, on its Stena Spey semi.