The Pieter Schelte, the largest heavy lift vessel in the world, departed from her shipyard (Daewoo Heavy Industries) in South Korea on 19th November bound for Rotterdam for completion via Singapore. The Pieter Schelte is 382m long, 124m wide and is capable of lifting oil rig superstructures and the legs upon which they sit.

The $2.97 billion vessel was designed to assist offshore oil rigs and was commissioned by Swiss based Allseas, a company specialising in offshore pipeline installation and subsea construction. The vessel was to have been deployed on her first task in the Black Sea as part of the South Stream project but this project was lost. According to Allseas, the loads lifted by the Pieter Schelte will reach 48,000 tonnes.

Allseas is already planning a sister ship that will be 400m long, 160m wide and capable of lifting 77,000 tonnes. Both the legs and main structure of a rig can be carried on the ship and moved simultaneously whilst the service speed is 14 knots. The crew totals 571 people and the ship is also the world’s largest pipelaying ship with a capacity of 2,000 tonnes, double the previous record holder, Allseas’ Solitaire.

The ship is equipped with 8 MAN diesel generators providing a total installed power of 95,000 kW. The propulsive power is transferred through 12 Rolls-Royce azimuth thrusters and these also provide the thrust for the Kongsberg DP3 dynamic positioning system.