Following orders for two additional self-propelled, self-elevating offshore platforms from the Tianjin-based Huake Wuzhou Offshore Engineering (Huake Wuzhou), China Merchants Jingling Weihai, part of the shipbuilding arm of China Merchants Group, has started constructing the first unit.
Zheng Hehui , general manager of Weihai Jinling, and Jia Guoxing , general manager of Huake Wuzhou, signed two construction contracts on 8 December 2022. On the same day, the Chinese shipyard held a ceremony for the W6018 project, marking the start of construction for Huake Wuzhou’s first jack-up platform.
The signing ceremony for the new deals was attended by Huang Xuefei , chairman of Huake Wuzhou; Wang Zhaogang , consultant; Zhou Zhengbing , deputy general manager of Weihai Jinling; and Ou Shubo , chief engineer.
Thanks to this, the shipyard will build a multi-functional service platform, with a leg length of 107 metres, a total hull length of 92 metres, a width of 40 metres, and a moulded depth of 6.1 metres. It will have the capacity to accommodate 150 people and operate in a water depth of 65 metres. Equipped with a DP2 dynamic positioning system, this jack-up unit will be mainly used for service operations between oil and gas fields in Saudi waters after delivery.
Following the signing of deals for two self-propelled, self-elevating jack-up units in May 2022 , this brings the total number of orders for such platforms from Huake Wuzhou to four. However, the dimensions of the previous two differ from the new ones.
The previously ordered jack-up units are expected to come with a leg length of 97 metres, a total platform length of about 96.8 metres, a hull length of about 74.4 metres, a width of 40 metres, and a moulded depth of 6.1 metres. These offshore platforms will have the capacity to accommodate 250 people and operate in a water depth of 4m~65m.
While announcing the previous two orders in May, the Chinese shipyard highlighted that it was the first offshore construction project of Weihai Jinling’s non-shipbuilding sector. The firm also underlined that the project was aligned with its development strategy of “finishing shipbuilding, strengthening ship repair, and optimizing non-shipbuilding.”