PPS02 Project

In October 2009, SAL performed a state of the art shipment of a pipelay tower from La Rochelle to Brazil for its customer Technip.

The unit with a weight of 900 mtons measured 16.7 x 22.24 x 39.4 m. Despite these extraordinary dimensions, SAL offered to lift the piece in its fully assembled state. To lift the assembled unit, SAL’s engineering team had to develop a highly complex lifting frame built by the German Sietas shipyard which was mounted at the tower in France. The installation of the frame proved to be quite a challenge since it had to be attached to the main frame of the tower but was not allowed to interfere with some highly sensitive parts of the cargo.
To support the heavy weight of the tower, the pier in La Rochelle had to be specifically strengthened for this operation. Hence the cargo on the pier was positioned at a distance of 32 m away from the vessel’s centerline, which was a challenging aspect in view of crane outreach. The cargo was loaded on the tanktop, and the vessel sailed to Brazil with an open hatch. Upon arrival in Brazil, the tower was directly discharged onto the pipe laying vessel "Skandi Victoria" which was double banking with SAL vessel MV "Anne-Sofie" in Rio de Janeiro. The installation was again a highly demanding process since absolute precision was required.