Keppel Verolme lands a double

Rotterdam-based Keppel Verolme, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine has won two contracts totaling S$160 million on the back of an upsurge of offshore activities in the North Sea.

Keppel had secured a repeat order for the outfitting of the floating production, storage and offloading facility Sevan Voyageur for Norway’s Sevan Production. Work is expected to be completed in the summer of 2008. This is the third cylindrical FPSO facility that Keppel Verolme is carrying for the same owner. The world’s first cylindrical FPSO facility, Sevan Piranema, was completed in Keppel Verolme in January 2007. Keppel had also won a contract for the drydocking of the Saipem 7000, a semi-submersible crane and pipelaying DP vessel for Italy’s Saipem. Saipem 7000 is the world’s second largest crane vessel with lifting capabilities of up to 14,000 tonnes.

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Design and operation of LPG ships

Rina will be holding a new conference in January 2008 relating to the Design and Operation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas ships followed by the success of 2006 International conference.

LPG vessels may have pressurized, semi-pressurized or fully refrigerated cargo systems, able to trade from both pressure and refrigerated storages.  Fully refrigerated ships will require a chiller to cool down LPG at the load port or a re-heater to warm LPG discharging into pressure storage.  The problematic characteristics of LPG have made it a late developer.  Seaborne trade in LPG was less than one million tonnes in 1960, reached 17 million tonnes by 1980 and was in excess of 47 million tonnes by the year 2000. With the great changes expected in the LPG industry, this conference will provide a forum for discussion and a means of professional development for those involved with the design, construction and operation of LPG ships.

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Container Cranes Pass under Bridge with Feet to Spare

Two new container cranes from Japan were delivered to the Port of Los Angeles and carefully navigated under the Vincent Thomas Bridge on the way to the TraPac terminal.

The cranes came within five feet of the bridge’s undercarriage but passed under without incident as television helicopters and film crews captured the scene. This delivery, precisely timed for the lowest tide possible, marks the first arrival of cranes under the bridge since 2002. The cranes were delivered on a barge that was lowered to the water line to allow bridge clearance. Upon arrival at the terminal, the barge was raised up to the dock level. The cranes will be rolled onto the terminal over the course of several days.

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