Singapore's Sembcorp Marine Ltd. announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Jurong Shipyard Pte Ltd. has entered into an exclusive letter of intent with Heerema Offshore Services B.V. for the engineering and construction of a new semisubmersible crane vessel (NSCV).
The NSCV is designed to install and remove offshore facilities worldwide and will be equipped with two Huisman heavy-lifting offshore cranes of 10,000 metric ton (MT) lifting capacity each and a large reinforced work deck area. With a vessel length of 702 feet (214 meters) and a width of 320 feet (97.5 meters), the NSCV will be the largest crane vessel in the world. Furthermore, the NSCV will be self-propelled with a transit speed of 10 knots, with power generated by means of dual fuel engines – MGO & LNG. Stationkeeping is by means of dynamic positioning (DP3) or mooring system.
Heerema Offshore Services B.V. is a subsidiary of Heerema Marine Contractors Nederland Holding SE (HMC). The Company brings more than 50 years of specialized skills to the offshore oil and gas industry and has since firmly established itself as a leader in transportation, installation and removal of all types of offshore facilities, including fixed and floating structures and subsea pipelines and infrastructure in shallow, deep and ultra-deep waters.
HMC currently owns four of the world’s largest crane vessels, namely: SSCV Thialf, Hermod, DCV Balder and Aegir, the latest addition to their fleet. Jan Pieter Klaver, CEO of Heerema Marine Contractors, said: “Our letter of intent with Jurong Shipyard represents the next critical step in our plans to introduce the NSCV to the market. The fact that we decided to press on with our plans in these times of low oil prices, shows our belief in the offshore oil and gas industry and demonstrates our continued commitment to offer unparalleled installation services to the industry.
We are confident that with Jurong we have found reliable partners that can build the world largest crane vessel.” Wong Weng Sun, President and CEO of Sembcorp Marine, said: “We are very pleased that Heerema has chosen Sembcorp Marine as their strategic partner to build the new semisubmersible crane vessel. With our proven track record in building a broad range of semisubmersible vessels for drilling, well-intervention and accommodation purposes, we are confident of building the best vessel to meet Heerema’s exacting requirements.” The LOI is not expected to have any material impact on the net tangible assets and earnings per share of Sembcorp Marine for the year ending Dec. 31.
