When the Vogelfluglinie set new transport records every year at the beginning of the 1980s and the Danish State Railways (DSB) began using ever larger ferries, DB had to supplement the fully utilized Germany with a new building with 60 percent more capacity. The Theodor Heuss no longer met the requirements and had been converted for dangerous goods. The order was placed on October 18, 1984 at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in Kiel . The federal government granted 12.5 percent competition aid, a subsidy that was actually only reserved for private shipowners.
The new DB flagship was delivered on May 2, 1986 after only 17 months of construction and was christened by Veronica Carstens in her husband's name. In a personal conversation, former Federal President Karl Carstens thanked the shipyard workers for the solid and good workmanship on "his ship". With this ship, stabilizers against rough seas were used for the first time. The facilities corresponded to those of the other ferries on this ferry route.
After taking stock, the DFO decided not to invest in these ferries any more. They wanted to face the future with new concepts and new ships. Together with DSB Rederi , four modern double-ended ferries were put into service in 1997 , the Prins Richard , Prinsesse Benedektiven , Schleswig-Holstein and Germany . After a brief reactivation due to the failure of the Prinsesse Benedektiven , the Karl Carstens was finally decommissioned on December 31, 1997.
modification
The Karl Carstens was first in Warnemünde and then in Nakskov and Rødby launched . In 2000 the name was shortened to Karl and the ship was sold several times. In mid-2006, the former train ferry reached the Viktor Lenac shipyard in Rijeka to be converted into a drilling ship. After the main part of the superstructure had been removed and the accommodations expanded, the owner and the Helix Energy Solution Group founded the Kommandor LCC joint venture and decided on a future assignment as FPSO. For this purpose, a new hull was built around the existing one, a new working deck was built to accommodate the future equipment, and the superstructure was expanded to accommodate a larger crew.
The installation of the production facilities started in May 2009 at the Kiewit shipyard in Corpus Christi (Texas) . The detachable conveyor system is the outstanding feature of the Helix Producer I : In the event of an approaching hurricane , the connection can be quickly released and the ship can be moved out of the danger area. After the storm, the ship returns, reconnects to the system and resumes production. The facilities on board allow the processing of 30,000 barrels of crude oil , 70 MMSCFD ( Million Standard Cubic Feet per Day ) natural gas and 50,000 barrels of water per day .
Use as FPSO
The Helix Producer I is used in the Phoenix oil field in the Gulf of Mexico. In June 2010, BP announced that the ship would assist the Discoverer Enterprise and Toisa Pisces in picking up the leaking oil at the Deepwater Horizon disaster. With a capacity of 30,000 barrels, the Helix Producer I was able to pick up almost half of the oil that escapes daily and unload it onto tankers for transport .
literature
Gert Uwe Detlefsen: Shipping in the picture Baltic ferry ships. Hauschild Verlag Bremen 1997, ISBN 978-3-89757-372-7 .
Günther Meier: The Vogelfluglinie and its ships. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Herford 1988, ISBN 3-7822-0441-7 .
Carsten Watsack: Puttgarden-Rødby The history of the Vogelfluglinie. Verlag Deutsche Fährschiffpublikationen, Edition Ostseeland 2000, ISBN 3-8311-0357-7 .
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