Heerema Marine Contractors has shared images showing the loading of the semi-submersible crane vessel Hermod on the heavy transport vessel Dockwise Vanguard, marking the beginning of the end for the crane vessel built in 1970s.
To remind, HMC announced last week that the company was going to retire and recycle the Hermod at the end of the year after nearly 40 years in operation.
Heerema said that the Chinese demolition yard would execute the recycling operation with about 98 percent of the vessel materials to be recycled and reused.
The demolition of Hermod will be performed in accordance with the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships and in line with the European Union Ship Recycling Regulation.
After delivery by the Japanese Mitsui yard in 1978, Hermod’s first job was the installation of the Piper A platform on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf. The vessel executed its first project outside the North Sea in Brazil in the mid-eighties, followed by projects in the Gulf of Mexico, South East Asia, and Africa.
Hermod worked in more than 25 countries and was involved in several ‘first’ installation projects, like the first North Sea tension leg platform named Hutton in 1984, first deepwater foundation piles of the first TLP in the Gulf of Mexico (Auger), among others.
The heaviest lift performed by Hermod was the Peregrino topside in Brazil in 2010 with a dry weight of 6,287 mT.
Hermod and its sister vessel Balder, designed and constructed in the 1970s, were the first semi-submersible crane vessels of its kind in the offshore construction industry.
Offshore Energy Today Staff