GAC Philippines was involved in the load out and sail away of two new rigs with a combined weight of 21,358 gross tonnes.
The operation involved providing a full range of ship and marine agency services, liaising with tugs and other suppliers, and arranging bunker fuels. GAC also assisted the rig workers with accommodation and transportation, purchase of equipment from ship chandlers and processing of all their documents. A semi-submersible heavy lift vessel was called upon to move the rigs from Manila to Bahrain.
Work started well in advance with GAC assembling the parties involved to work out the best sail-out methodology. That included managing unexpected events such as bad weather and a foot of one of the rigs getting stuck to the seabed due to years of inactivity. Despite the setbacks, GAC and the other parties found solutions that brought the sail-out time and operation back on track. The rigs were discharged on August 14.
“The operation was unprecedented given the size of both rigs, and it was also our first time handling two rigs at the same time,” said Mike Borja, GAC Philippines’ operations manager.
