Van Oord’s flexible fallpipe vessel, Stornes, has recently been in Damen Shiprepair & Conversion Rotterdam for a scope of work which allows the vessel to operate at greater water depths in future.
Stornes is a 175 meters long, 26.24 meters wide, DP2 vessel used for subsea rock installation to protect piping.
Since its delivery to Van Oord in 2011, Stornes has mostly been installing rocks to water depths up to 800 metres. However, a contract awarded to the company in 2013 required the vessel to operate at 1,300 metres. After some minor modifications in 2014, the first phase of the contract was executed. Now, the vessel has received an upgrade to its rock-dumping tower, which enables an even better performance at these water depths. The vessel arrived for modification on March 6, and departed May 25.
Paul Ippel , Damen Shiprepair & Conversion Sales Manager, said: “We have been welcoming vessels from Van Oord for some years now and we received an invitation to tender for the Stornes project in 2014.”
Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam Project Manager, Kris Kasper , added: “Van Oord’s project team had been busy for two years preparing for this installation. The designers were on the ground at all times throughout, constantly on-hand to answer any questions from our side. It was a very fruitful relationship. Equally, the hard work of the subcontractors we worked with, such as ESS, ZUSO and Den Breejen, ensured that we were able to remain on track.”