Pioneering Spirit (ship)


Pioneering Spirit is the world's largest vessel by gross tonnage. She was designed for the single-lift installation and removal of large oil and gas platforms and the installation of record-weight pipelines.
Designed by Swiss-based Allseas Group, the long, wide vessel was built in South Korea by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering at a cost of €2.6 billion and commenced offshore operations in August 2016.
In June 2017, Pioneering Spirit commenced pipelay for the first line of SouthStream Transport B.V's dual Turkish Stream pipeline in the Black Sea.
Allseas has committed to building an even larger version of the same design, Allseas Amazing Grace, the delivery of which is planned for 2022.

Development

The initial concept, by Allseas technical director W.P. Kaldenbach, was of a vessel capable of lifting entire platforms, and in 1987 Allseas declared its intention to build it. The initial idea featured two rigidly connected, self-propelled supertankers, with a large slot at the bows enabling it to install platform topsides in one piece. Early designs featured a flotation and ballasting system and active motion compensation system to facilitate a controlled transfer of a topsides’ weight from the vessel to a platform substructure. Allseas developed the original idea to include steel jacket installation, jackets and topsides removal and rigid pipelay capabilities.
The emphasis switched from the conversion of two existing tankers to a new-build hull in 2004, though retaining the catamaran concept. The decision was prompted by a lack of suitable vessels to convert, the lower costs associated with a new-build, and the need to house sophisticated equipment – such as a dynamic positioning system – in the hull.
In 2007, twenty years after the idea was first conceived, Allseas announced plans to build the Pieter Schelte, a twin-hulled platform installation / decommissioning and pipelay vessel. Named after the offshore pioneer Pieter Schelte, the design featured a lifting system at its bows for lifting platform topsides up to and a lifting system at its stern for lifting steel jackets up to. The design also included pipelay equipment to handle pipe diameters ranging from at water depths exceeding.

First equipment orders placed

Allseas placed orders for machinery, including generators and thrusters, in 2007, and for the high-tensile steel for the lifting systems in 2008.
After the global financial crisis weakened funding, the company was forced to postpone the building schedule and as a result delayed the awarding of the hull construction contract. Finnish engineering company Deltamarin performed detail engineering in 2009.

Construction

Allseas eventually was able to sign the main construction contract in June 2010 with South Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd.
Midway through the build, Allseas decided to widen the ship by in order to increase the clearance between the bows and the legs of large platforms. As a result, the overall width increased from, and the slot width from.
Pioneering Spirit departed Daewoo in November 2014 and arrived at the Maasvlakte 2, Port of Rotterdam, for completion and commissioning, on January 8, 2015. She left Rotterdam on 6 August 2016.

Naming controversy

The vessel was originally named Pieter Schelte after the engineer Pieter Schelte Heerema, the father of Allseas' owner Edward Heerema. The original name caused controversy due to Pieter Schelte Heerema's service in the Waffen-SS during World War II, prior to August 1943. After the war, he was arrested and sentenced to jail for three years, because of links to a Dutch company that conscripted slave labourers for the Nazi war effort, according to the Dutch National Institute for War Documentation. The court later released him after one and a half years.
Allseas announced on Friday, 6 February 2015 that the vessel's name would be changed in response to the controversy. Her new name, Pioneering Spirit, was announced after the weekend.

Design

Pioneering Spirit is the world's largest vessel, in terms of her gross tonnage, breadth, and displacement. The maximum topside lift capacity is achieved by operating as a semi-submersible. For removal of topsides, the vessel straddles the intended payload with the slot formed by the twin bows. The slot measures . After straddling the payload, Pioneering Spirit takes on ballast to lower, and two sets of eight retractable motion-compensated horizontal lifting beams are slid under the payload. Once the load is secure, the vessel offloads the ballast, rising in the water and partially transferring the load to the beams. In the final stage a fast lift system is used that lifts the payload up to in 15 s.
Two tilting lift beams for the installation or removal of steel jackets, up to in weight, will be located at the vessel's stern. A special purpose crane built by Huisman is scheduled for delivery in the second half of 2018. The tub mounted crane will be available for additional lifts for jacket and topsides installation such as pile handling and bridge installation.
When equipped with the Stinger, Pioneering Spirit can be used to lay pipe. Pipe segments are welded together on board the vessel, then are placed on the Stinger, where they roll into the water. The Stinger is curved to guide the pipe to the bottom of the ocean. The Stinger itself weighs and measures long and wide. It is attached to the Stinger Transition Frame, which provides an interface between the Stinger and the vessel; the STF is installed in the bow slot when attached to the vessel. The Stinger Transition Frame weighs more than by itself.
The vessel is equipped with eight, 20-cylinder MAN 11,200 kW diesel generators providing a total installed power of 95 MW, driving 12 Rolls-Royce azimuth thrusters which provide dynamic positioning and for propulsion. The vessel's maximum speed is. The accommodation has room for 571 persons in two-berth cabins.
Lift Capacity Upgrade
As per update on July 2019, Allseas is planning to upgrade the lift capacity from 48,000 tonnes to 60,000 tonnes. This reason for the same is to enable the removal of Statfjord A platform in the North Sea. The details of the upgrade are currently unknown.

''Iron Lady'' and ''Bumblebee''

Allseas also constructed two barges to assist Pioneering Spirit. If the water depth is not sufficient to allow the vessel to approach the dock, Pioneering Spirit can unload structures to Iron Lady, a barge with a shallower draft. Bumblebee was built specifically to store the Stinger and STF when it is not in use.

Projects

Pioneering Spirit performed her first commercial lift, removal of Repsol's Yme mobile offshore production unit on 22 August 2016. Located in the Yme field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, approximately west of Stavanger, the MOPU was a jack-up type platform standing on three, diameter steel legs. The decision to remove the platform was made in 2013, and the contract for the removal of the topsides was subsequently awarded to Allseas. Pioneering Spirit collided with the caisson of the Yme platform during the removal.
On 28 April 2017 Pioneering Spirit performed the single-lift removal of Shell's Brent Delta topsides. Located in the Brent field, approximately off the northeast coast of Shetland, the iconic platform sat on a three-legged gravity-based structure in of water. The vessel delivered the topsides to Able UK's Seaton Port yard, Teesside, for disposal.
Pioneering Spirit has done the installation of the offshore section of the Turkish Stream pipeline in the Black Sea. The pipeline construction started in May 2017 and it was finished in November 2018. Starting from the Russian coast near the town of Anapa, the, diameter twin-pipeline will traverse the Black Sea at depths up to and emerge onshore in Turkey's Thrace region.
She has installed three out of four platform topsides for phase one of the Johan Sverdrup development in offshore Norway. The drilling platform topside was installed in June 2018. The other two topsides named P1 and LQ were installed in March 2019. This set a new record with P1 topside weighing 26,000 tons is the heaviest single-lift executed offshore till date. The vessel is expected to return in 2022 to install P2 topside weighing 27,000 tons for phase two of the Johan Sverdrup development.
It removed Valhall QP topside for Aker BP in June 2019. This structure was an accommodation platform in Valhall field, located in southern part of North Sea about 280km off the Norwegian coast. Weighing 3800 ton, it is the lightest lift operation performed by the vessel.
In June 2019 Pioneering Spirit also removed the Brent Bravo topside weighing 25,000 tonne located 186km off the coast of Scotland on the way to Norway. She is scheduled to remove the remaining two Brent field topsides for Shell, the 15,000 tonne Brent Alpha and 29,500 tonne Brent Charlie.