The heated pool is the result of the Maritime Labour Convention. When weary mariners get off watch they deserve a warm comfortable spa type environment to help detract from the rigors of life afloat.
Mainecheng - you said above you are involved. Do you work on the Discoverer? Any news that you can confirm or deny?
Ask the question,
I work for Shell - in Alaska ( background is Chief Eng - with Deep Water Dp ops, oceanographic and OSR exp)
Harvey Gulf’s STX Icebreaker design.
http://www.marinevisuals.com/#!gallery/vstc4=research-icebreakers
scroll to photos 4 & 5
[QUOTE=CaptDag;127022]Harvey Gulf’s STX Icebreaker design.
http://www.marinevisuals.com/#!gallery/vstc4=research-icebreakers
scroll to photos 4 & 5[/QUOTE]
Pretty sure it’s not going to be an Icebreaker. It will be Ice Class Hull(s) And will be LNG fueled with Wartsilla ponies. D/E - I would not be surprised (although not my call or push) that long term HG will have an IceBreaker classed vessel for this type of ops. But that is something for HG to comment on .
Good looking lines though.
But all indications are in the Chuck.
[QUOTE=mainecheng;127030]Pretty sure it’s not going to be an Icebreaker. It will be Ice Class Hull(s) And will be LNG fueled with Wartsilla ponies. D/E - I would not be surprised (although not my call or push) that long term HG will have an IceBreaker classed vessel for this type of ops. But that is something for HG to comment on .
Good looking lines though.[/QUOTE]
PC3 is still an extremely strong ice class without the additional icebreaker notation. For example, the ice class of the new Canadian polar icebreaker is PC2, only one higher than those AHTS vessels.
As for lines, I didn’t see any, so I can’t have any opinion on the vessels.
Have they got the helicopter situation figured out? I had friends get stuck for days up there because the helicopters they used had no de-icing capability.
[QUOTE=The Commodore;126892]I think it’s true the Discoverer was not as Arctic ready as everyone said or hoped. But I hear there have been big improvements while she is in the yard, and they also removed all the senior personnel in the hopes of making 2014 better. Anyone know if this is true? Pictures?[/QUOTE]
I guess that - no matter what fancy things they are doing there in the yard in Korea - the Discoverer won’t be going anywhere near the Arctic until she’s been certified again. Seems logic after such serious repairs & a new engine. Question will probably be whether they’ll heavy lift her again to the US to do that job over there or if they fly over the ABS certifiers to do the job in Korea?
[QUOTE=Drill Bill;127082]I guess that - no matter what fancy things they are doing there in the yard in Korea - the Discoverer won’t be going anywhere near the Arctic until she’s been certified again. Seems logic after such serious repairs & a new engine. Question will probably be whether they’ll heavy lift her again to the US to do that job over there or if they fly over the ABS certifiers to do the job in Korea?[/QUOTE]
Given the enormous amount of shipyard work done in Korea, doesn’t ABS have surveyors there all the time?
What is the cost of a heavy lift ship compared to towing?
Lol Do you think every ship class ABS has to come to the US for a survey? They have offices all over the world for this reason.
PHI will have Capable Aircraft fit for use in the Region. Much better than 12
Where was he working? Beaufort or Chuck?
There has been a lot of effort put into sorting that out .
No heavy lift , ABS has something like 8-10 inspectors working between Samsung and HHI and more just over in Japan bit do not think they’ll need to bring them In.
It probably doesn’t matter if ABS has a thousand inspectors in Korea, Noble has their ships classed with DNV. I heard Discoverer will be sailing on her own to come back to the US, although no one seems to know what her port of arrival will be. As far as cost of a heavy lift, imagine it is a few million $. If it were easy and cheap, everyone would do it.
Did they increase DISCOs hp so she can steam at decent speed?
The cost of towing from Korea into the Chukchi would also be few million. I am very curious what the actual cost comparison might be.
[QUOTE=mainecheng;127128]No heavy lift , ABS has something like 8-10 inspectors working between Samsung and HHI and more just over in Japan bit do not think they’ll need to bring them In.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the additional ABS info and apologies for my somewhat ‘silly’ sounding question. Re-reading that phrase I see I wasn’t that clear; I referred to ABS & getting the company to Korea as I thought that - for ‘Shell’s Arctic prestige project’ - they may have some of their top guys visiting the shipyard wearing a hard hat (also a nice bit of PR, you know). When it comes to ‘certification’ I also meant competent people from USCG or BSEE who may want to have a close look at the ship before she leaves the yard. Unless they would wait until she hits Seattle, of course (or any other relevant US port before moving to Dutch H.).
I certainly don’t see why Shell would want to send the DISCO anywhere, except straight from Korea to the Chukchi (planning to arrive around the first of July).
Anything they could do in Dutch Harbor could be done 10 times cheaper in Korea. Going a thousand miles out of their way to Dutch Harbor would be a tremendous waste of time and money with increased risks and invite extra scrutiny. If they really want to have the DISCO standing by in Alaska, Port Clarence would be a much better place to do it.
Some may notice that I have been on the sidelines throughout this discussion but want to just say that I am hopeful that there will be a new fresh start in 2014 for Shell’s Arctic ambitions. Something does make me believe that they found Jesus after 2012 and it will be different this time out. No matter how cynical I may be about the industry, I want the Arctic to be a success for all of us. The stakes are huge and the potential payoff immense.
To mainecheng, I just want to congratulate you in your new position. Best of luck to you and the Shell team in 2014.
Thank you. I’m part of the changes with more deep well knowledge base coming in. With several in the team with deep Maritime AND Drilling from Engineering and Deck 2014 will look quite a bit different, ( I hope much better ) - but I can only compare to the reports and relations from those here in 12/13. I will say to those who were here and filled out The Surveys post season, it helped. Today it’s 181 to go.
Glad those surveys did some good! Nice to hear there are changes for the next season. I’d go back to Alaska in a heartbeat (Millennium hotel Prime Rib sandwich is a winner!)but my new boat is state of the art and probably a better place to further my knowledge. I hope the new crew is as good as last years, they were great, albeit except for the few bad eggs. Good luck.