April 21 - Gulliver will be the name of the Scaldis Salvage and Marine Contractors DP2 heavy lift vessel that is currently under construction in China, as it eyes deployment in European waters after its scheduled delivery in the spring of next year.
Scaldis says that the vessel has been named after the main character in Jonathan Swift's novel Gulliver's Travels. To date, the provisional name was RAMBIZ 4000, in reference to the vessel's lifting capacity.
The 108 m Gulliver is being built by Royal IHC at the Hong Qiang shipyard, near Shanghai, China, where a keel laying ceremony took place in February. It will be finished at the Huisman facility in Xiamen, where a pair of Huisman cranes with lifting capacities of 2,000 tonnes each will feature on the vessel and will be used in the installation of offshore wind farms.
As HLPFI reported at the time the latest contract for the construction and delivery of the ship was signed on February 2015 from a design that was drawn up in-house in cooperation with Vuyk Engineering Rotterdam, part of Royal IHC on the basis of the extensive experience that Scaldis has accumulated hoisting heavy objects in challenging offshore conditions.
Scaldis says that the ship was ordered to further support and expand the Antwerp-based company's services, including the installation of offshore infrastructures and decommissioning-deconstruction activities for the oil and gas industry, as well as the installation of offshore wind farms. The ship will also be able to be used for any type of marine related heavy lifting work in challenging situations, such as the construction of bridge components and clearing subsea obstacles.
A company spokesperson explained that the vessel's name refers to a character who is famous for his travels, especially his voyage to Lilliput where his physical size and strength are an advantage. His extraordinary capabilities put Gulliver in a unique position; qualities that the new heavy lift vessel will epitomise when it executes projects worldwide.
HLPFI readers may recall that Scaldis originally placed an order for a vessel of this type with STX Offshore and Shipbuilding in 2012 to be built in Dalian and finished in Xiamen.
A company spokesperson explained that the bankruptcy of STX Dalian in 2013 resulted in the cancellation of the contract between STX and Scaldis.
Following a new tender process undertaken in 2014, Scaldis, together with its shareholders, elected to contract with Royal IHC Holland, a company with which it has a long and successful relationship.
