From gCaptain, April 28:
Pioneering Spirit Sets World Lifting Record
The giant offshore installation and commissioning vessel Pioneering Spirit has set the new world lifting record with the successful removal of Shell’s 24,000 tonne Brent Delta platform in the North Sea in a single lift.
Lifting of the Delta topsides. Credit: Allseas
Pioneering Spirit’s owner Allseas confirmed the safe and successful completion of the topsides removal operation on April 28.
Located in the Brent field approximately 115 miles off the northeast coast of Shetland, the Brent Delta topsides sat on a three-legged, gravity-based structure in 140 meters of water.
The topsides is now sea-fastened on board Pioneering Spirit for transport to the Able UK decommissioning yard in Teesside, northeast England for recycling and disposal.
The Pioneering Spirit entered service in 2016 and, by design, has set a number of records. At 382 meters long and 124 meters wide, the purpose-built vessel is the largest offshore construction ship ever built. The bow features a large slot and lifting beams that allow the vessel to straddle a platform and remove entire topsides weighing up to 48,000 tonnes in a single lift. This single lift method is considered a major departure from traditional decommissioning, where topsides are usually taken apart piece by piece....MORE
...The Pioneering Spirit, which has been rumored to cost about $3 billion, was built in South Korea by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering and arrived in Rotterdam for final outfitting in January 2015. The vessel had been under construction since at least 2010, but its concept dates back nearly three decades and is based on two large tankers placed side-by-side. Allseas founder and CEO, Edward Hereema, who first came up with idea, has called the vessel one of the biggest bets of his career....
