Wind Server Gets its Legs
In Wismar, Rostock-Warnemünde, Germany, today the fourth and last steel jack-up leg was settled into its jacking position on the wind turbine service vessel WIND SERVER, currently under construction at Nordic Yards in Wismar for Danish customer DBB Jack-Up Services. During the past eight days the four huge steel pipes, which were transported to the Wismar shipyard by sea from Cuxhaven, were vertically raised and installed one by one with the aid of a giant lattice boom crane supplied specially for this project.
Suda’s Jacob Liftboats to Aid Gulf Clean-up
The Jacob, a $17.8m boat designed by Metairie-based A.K. Suda Inc. for CS Liftboats, recently launched in the Gulf of Mexico on July 14. According to the New Orleans Business Center, the move helps alleviate a five- to six-boat demand for post-Katrina cleanup. Liftboats are considered the transport trucks of the offshore oil industry. Industry analysts predicted a backlog of months for liftboats after Hurricane Katrina. Insurers paid out more than $8b in claims for storm damage in the Gulf of Mexico, and demand is rampant for liftboats to handle cleanup and repairs.Most liftboats use only a portion of possible leg length because a crane is attached to the legs. Suda’s team placed the 200-ton crane on the liftboat’s deck. Engineers shaved roughly 15 ft.