In 2018 Heerema Marine Contractors (HMC) contracted Ulstein Verft shipyard to provide design and engineering services to convert their deepwater construction vessel Aegir into a fast sailing heavy lift vessel (HLV).
The vessel is now converted into a dedicated offshore heavy lift vessel. Aegir’s already massive 4,000-ton main crane and the fact that her hull design is based on a heavy-lift vessel design, is a key benefit in this development.
Nevertheless, innovative solutions and smart engineering work are needed to make the vessel into an efficient asset for the new markets that Heerema is targeting.
Ko Stroo, project manager/lead naval architect at the shipyard said: “It is not just simply removing the tower and lay equipment that turns Aegir into a heavy lift vessel. The obvious (but not necessarily the easiest) areas of attention are the closing of the large moonpool, creating a flush main deck and modifications to marine, ballast and venting systems.”
“For the latter, it is checked what the impact is of applying Ulstein’s patent-pending venting solution, as it is originally developed for newbuilding projects. Also, extensive probabilistic stability calculations and a full FEM analysis are made in relation to the new modes of operation.”
“Furthermore, we are also performing CFD analysis to assess if hull optimization could reduce fuel consumption and emissions for the new operational profile of the vessel,” Ko added.