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A  Jumbo Dock Crane

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World’s strongest crane makes its debut at Yantai Raffles yard
Tuesday 25 November 2008

<p>TAISUN, the world&#8217;s largest heavylift crane, has carried out its first commercial lift at Yantai Raffles Shipyard in China.</p>
<p>The 20,000-tonne capacity crane lifted a 14,000-tonne deckbox and linked it to the columns and hull of the semi-submersible drill rig COSL Pioneer in a single operation.</p>
<p>COSL Pioneer is being built for COSL Drilling Europe, an offshoot of China Oilfield Services, at the yard&#8217;s facility in Yantai in eastern China&#8217;s Shandong province. </p>
<p>Taisun general manager Niels Haakman said that designing, planning and executing the mating of the deck box and lower hull took less than two weeks. &#8220;We have showed that Taisun can assemble one semisubmersible every month, including the installation of the drill tower,&#8221; Mr Haakman said.</p>
<p>Yantai Raffles Shipyard deputy chairman Brian Chang said the commercial launch meant Taisun had &#8220;changed the game&#8221; when it came to the fabrication of large offshore and floating production units.</p>
<p>&#8220;Taisun will dramatically help improve the competitiveness&#8221; of Yantai Raffles Shipyard, by helping the concurrent fabrication of larger modules, a move that will save costs, time, manpower and ultimately the weight of the finished structure, Mr Chang said. </p>
<p>Up to the launch of Taisun, the yard could only make smaller modules in stages because of weight restrictions. Mr Chang added that using Taisun on a typical offshore rig would save 2m-3m work hours, &#8220;which is fairly significant&#8221;.  He said Taisun would have to be used to help complete two or three rigs before the financial savings could be quantified, although these are expected to be sizeable. </p>
<p>Yantai Raffles Shipyard has orders for 16 offshore projects, including rigs, for firms including China Oilfield Services and Italian engineering outfit Saipem. </p>
<p>COSL Drilling Europe president and chief executive Petter Tomren said the company &#8220;look forward to strengthening our relationship with Yantai Raffles Shipyard for our next two semisubmersible rigs, which are currently under construction at the Yantai Raffles yard&#8221;. </p>
<p>Mr Chang said seven major lift projects would be carried out next year, including one section totalling 17,000 tonnes. &#8220;This will give us a competitive edge.&#8221; </p>
<p>Taisun was designed and built by shipyard staff and subcontractors. Mr Chang said the columns were built using cast in-situ concrete and each column completely outfitted weighs 4,800 tonnes.</p>
<p>Each of the two beams was designed to lift 10,000 tonnes, although each has been tested to 12,500 tonnes, and Taisun demonstrated its full strength by setting a new Guinness World Record for weight, lifting 20,133 tonnes in a test lift last April. </p>
<p>Mr Chang remained confident about the long-term prospects for the yard, which is focused exclusively on the offshore sector, including jack-up and semi-submersible drill rigs, floating production storage and offloading, heavylift and specialist vessels. </p>
<p>He said that with daily global production levels running at 80m-90m barrels of oil and gas per day, the oil companies recognise there is a need for replenishment regardless of the economic conditions. </p>
<p>&#8220;There is a finite amount in given fields, which is why discovery, exploration and production will continue,&#8221; Mr Chang said.</p>

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