Solitaire (ship)
 Rear view of the Solitaire
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The Solitaire is one of the world's largest pipe laying ships . The work ship is owned by the Swiss offshore service provider Allseas and is currently sailing under the flag of Malta . At the end of 2014 it was replaced by the new Pieter Schelte building as the world's largest pipelayer.
history
The ship was built from 1971 to 1972 as hull number 223 by the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shipyard in Harima. The ship had been commissioned by the United International Shipping Corporation of Hendy International Company in Los Angeles and was launched in 1972 as Trentwood under the management of United International Ore Carriers in Monrovia. The bulk carrier without loading harnesses with a deckhouse arranged aft had nine hatches and nine cargo holds when it was built, the tank ceiling of which had been reinforced for use as an ore carrier. The Trentwood had a load capacity of around 130,000 tons and a cargo space of 139,800 m³. In the 1970s the United International Shipping Corporation from Oakland took over the ship and had it managed by International Enterprises from Monrovia. In the 1980s, the Singapore-based Karanore shipping company acquired Trentwood and had it operated by Singa Ship Management, also based in Singapore. In January 1988, the ore freighter was sold to Commercial Leasing from Copenhagen for US $ 7,335,000 and operated as Interbulk Vanguard under charter from Interbulk International Bulk Shipping from Fredensborg by Fastsail Maritime from Manila. From September 1988, the Angmering shipping company from Douglas on the Isle of Man acquired the ship for 10.7 million US dollars and had it managed again as Trentwood by Denholm Ship Management . On May 18, 1990, Copenhagen Commercial Leasing took over the ship for the second time and had it operated as Akdeniz S by Sonmez Denizcilik ve Ticaret from Istanbul in a bareboat charter from Dragon Navigation. From July 1992 Commercial Leasing continued to operate the freighter as a Comship under the Panama flag after the Turkish charterer's difficulties .
The Panamanian company Atlantic Point bought the ship in 1992 for Allseas Engineering of Heerema Group and renamed it in Solitaire I order. In 1993 the ship, which was planned to be converted to a cable lay, was transferred to the Pacific Ocean Shipping Corporation from Panama and the name was shortened to Solitaire . The conversion of the ship was based on the experience Allseas had gained with the Lorelay , the first pipelayer with dynamic positioning . The conversion was carried out by the Swan Hunter shipyard in Newcastle upon Tyne . During the work, 9,000 tons of steel were installed in the ship's structure, 4,000 tons of equipment, 3,000 tons of piping and 1,200 km of cables. The shipyard also took on the tests, commissioning and supported Allseas with the sea trials and the pipeline laying tests. Upon completion, it set new standards in terms of laying performance and depth for the pipeline laying industry. In contrast to other pipelayers, which are designed as semi-submersible or with flat hulls, it has a conventional hull shape. The Solitaire thus achieves high transfer speeds, good seaworthiness and offers plenty of space to work in the hull and on deck. This is also evident in the storage capacity of 22,000 t of pipes, which makes them less dependent on supply ships, especially when deployed at sea.
Technology and equipment
Drive and dynamic positioning
With the conversion, the ship got a diesel-electric drive . The basis for this is formed by eight Vasa 6 R 46 B diesel engines from the Finnish company Wärtsilä, each with an output of 5850 kilowatts . Whose output is converted from eight generators in electrical current, which in turn for the supply of the induction motors of the original eight azimuth thruster of the type FS 3500-671 manufacturer Lips is used. As part of the upgrade in 2009, two more propeller pods were added to the stern.
The Solitaire was initially equipped with a triple redundant system for dynamic positioning of class III. It was equipped with two of the types ADP702 and one ADP701 from Kongsberg . In 2008 and 2009, these stand-alone solutions were replaced by integrated systems of the types K-POS 22 (two systems) and K-POS 12 (one system), which were combined with the K-Chief 700 automation system and the K- drive control system. Thrust are networked via Ethernet .
Pipeline laying equipment
The Solitaire uses for laying pipelines S-lay method. The welded pipeline is led over the "Stinger", an arched steel structure, out of the board and lowered to the bottom of the sea.
The processing of the pipeline segments is highly automated: First, the "single joints", that is, individual segments with a length of 40 feet (approx. 12.2 m) are welded to two welding stations to form "double joints". These double joints are welded to the pipeline in what is known as the “firing line”, which extends practically the entire length of the ship in the middle. Five welding stations are used for this, for which an automated welding system called "Phoenix" developed by Allseas is used. The welding stations are followed by a station for radiographic testing and four stations for surface coating in order to increase the corrosion protection .
A welding cycle takes around three minutes, which means that the Solitaire is able to lay an average of around 5 kilometers (km) of pipeline per day. The Solitaire record, however, is over 9 km. In addition to the record for the greatest laying length per day, it now also holds the record for the greatest laying depth of 2,775 m, in which it laid two pipelines with eight and ten inches. In addition, a 24-inch pipeline was laid at a depth of 2550 m. This top performance was only made possible by doubling the capacity of the three "tensioners" - a kind of caterpillar-shaped retaining clip - to 350 t each, which was carried out in 2005.
Projects
With the Castoro Sei and the Castoro 10 , both owned by Saipem , Solitaire worked on the Nord Stream project to lay a gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea . When completed, it became the longest underwater pipeline in the world. As early as 2006 she was working with the Saipem 7000 on the Langeled pipeline project , the second longest underwater pipeline in the world. Since 2018 she has been involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline together with Pioneering Spirit . Work was suspended in December 2019 due to threats of sanctions from the United States.
Special equipment
- Cranes : two cranes for pipeline transfer with a capacity of 35 t at a 33 m radius or 18 t at 42 m; a special crane with a capacity of 300 t at 17 m or 40 t at 57 m
- Work stations: two welding stations for double joints, five welding stations for pipelines, one station for radiographic testing and four stations for coating
- Capacity of the tensioner: 3 × 350 t at 30 m / min
- Pipeline diameter: 2 to 60 inches
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Swan Hunter website with information on the conversion (English, accessed on May 28, 2010) ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Report on the Solitaire on Ship of the day (accessed on May 28, 2010)
- ↑ a b Allseas website with data on the ship (English, accessed on May 28, 2010) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Report on the construction of the Solitaire on Knvts.nl (English, PDF file, 1.19 MB, accessed on May 28, 2010) ( Memento of the original from February 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was used automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Announcement on the upgrade on the Kongsberg website (accessed May 28, 2010)
- ↑ a b Report on the Solitaire on the website of the television station 3sat (accessed on May 28, 2010)
- ↑ Allseas corporate website with historical data (English, accessed on May 28, 2010) ( Memento of the original from February 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Marinebuzz with information on Solitaire (accessed on May 28, 2010)
- ↑ Laying of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in Finland has started , press release, Nord Stream 2, September 5, 2018.
