April 3 - Financially troubled Sietas shipyard, Hamburg is in the final stages of construction of the first jack-up vessel designed and built in Germany, for Dutch marine engineering concern, Van Oord.
According to Sietas shipyard, which is currently in administration, the hull is complete, the steelwork finished and the building of the deckhouse has begun.
Construction of the jack-up vessel started in April 2012. The handover to the Dutch client is planned for July 2013.
Up until recently, the vessel lay on a construction platform in the dock harbor. For the final assembly, the 140 m ship was required to float in the water of the dock. For this purpose, a complicated position switch of the ship was executed through the Este dam structure, bordering the dock to the rivers Este and Elbe.
In the coming weeks, the deckhouse bridge of the vessel will be fully fitted and the expanded leg guides for the stilts will be installed. Also, an offshore crane will be installed with its foundations, pillars and booms. Once this work has been completed, the new vessel will leave the shipyard to begin sea trials. The jack-up vessel is unlikely to receive its four stilts, each measuring 84 m, and corresponding shoes, until after the first trial voyage.
When completed the Sietas jack-up vessel will be deployed to work on offshore wind farm construction. It has a transport capacity of 6,500 tons (5896.7 tonnes) and can work safely in water depths of 45 m. It will be equipped with a dynamic positioning system, and a jacking system with four stilts measuring 84 m, allowing it to lift itself far above the surface of the water to create a secure position for installation tasks. Its onboard offshore crane will be capable of lifting 900 tons (816.5 tonnes) at a jib reach of 30 m and work at a height of approximately 120 m.
In December 2012, HLPFI reported that a proposed takeover by Netherlands based shipbuilder VeKa Group of the Sietas shipyard fell-through. A pre-requisite of the deal was for Van Oord to commission a second identical jack-up vessel for construction in the Sietas shipyard - something that has yet to materialise (http://tinyurl.com/cu539q2). Insolvency administrator Berthold Brinkman noted that the shipyard must secure new orders in the near future to remain financially viable.
