Brent Charlie has arrived safely at its final resting place following a smooth transfer and load-in operation at Able UK’s Seaton Port in Hartlepool, northeast England.
Weighing more than 31,000 tonnes, Brent Charlie is the largest single offshore topsides to be lifted, transported and delivered to shore.
Removed in a single lift by our heavy lift vessel Pioneering Spirit, the topsides was transferred to the custom barge Iron Lady for the short tow to the Tees Estuary and onwards to the Seaton Port disposal facility.
Barge and topsides were grounded onto the grounding bed in the wet dock for the load-in. All safety checks complete, on 24 July the former production platform was skidded onto Quay 6, designed specifically to distribute the weight of the heaviest topsides facilities.
Able UK has achieved over 97% recycling/re-use rates on previously decommissioned Brent topsides Delta (24,000 tonnes), Bravo (25,000 tonnes), and Alpha (17,000 tonnes), and aims to match or exceed this figure for Charlie using its well-established supply chain.