Refurbishment of Technip’s Flagship Vessel — The Deep Blue

Technip is a global leader in oil and gas projects, technologies, systems and services. Technip partnered with Core to prep its flagship vessel, The Deep Blue, for refurbishment in July 2016. The Deep Blue is one of the most advanced pipelay and construction vessels in the subsea industry. As part of refurbishment, the Deep Blue required specialized care and support to deconstruct certain equipment and perform maintenance and repairs.

This vessel has an aligner wheel, for coiling and uncoiling pipe and umbilicals, installed approximately 300 feet above its top deck. Core’s experienced staff were contracted to plan and execute the removal of this aligner wheel and its attachments for refurbishment. To accomplish this, we reconfigured our Heavy-Lift Manitowoc Crane. What made this lift especially unique was the need to lift the wheel vertically but place it horizontally onshore. Because of the complexity of this project, it took nearly two days, two cranes and about 15 people to complete.

Once deconstructed and offloaded to our facility, our team then assisted in metal refurbishment, welding on the aligner wheel as well as maintenance/repair to the bearings and other wheel internals, and blasting and repainting of the entire wheel. In conjunction with this work, we also removed lattice frames and several other pieces of equipment for refurbishment. While this work was being conducted, the ship was sent for full refurbishment at a shipyard. Once all work was complete, Core reinstalled and reconfigured the aligner wheel and other equipment onto the Deep Blue.