September 26 - Jumbo Shipping has completed the transportation of the first of two 1,600-tonne flexible pipe lay towers to Okpo, South Korea for French company Imeca.
Imeca received the order to develop the flexible pipe lay system for the newly constructed Technip Oderbracht JV pipe lay support vessels.
Time constraints meant that it was not possible to schedule one of Jumbo's J-class ships, so it had to charter another vessel to undertake the collection of the first of two base structures from Gydnia, Poland.
The base structure was then positioned in a specially reinforced area in the port of La Rochelle. After discharge it took 11 weeks to fully dress the tower, by which time the tower weighed in at 1,600 tonnes, resting on a footprint of about 17 m x 15 m.
The Jumbo Jubilee, which has the capacity to lift up to 1,800 tonnes, collected and delivered the second base structure to the port of La Rochelle, before loading the first tower onboard.
Due to the height and weight of the tower it was positioned on the vessel's tanktop, which was strong enough to safely distribute the load and transport it to its final destination.
Upon arrival in Opko the tower was unloaded by the shipyard's own floating crane and is now awaiting installation onboard the PLSV.
