J. Ray McDermott’s Mid-East Lay Barge

Since 1960, J. Ray McDermott's Middle Eastern facility has fabricated and installed over 630 structures, 330,693ST of steel, and has installed over 2,610 miles of pipeline throughout the Arabian Gulf, Egypt, India, the Caspian, Africa and the North Sea.

Recently they have upgraded one of the assets that make these remarkable numbers possible. The firm’s Derrick Lay Barge-27, owned by Hydro Marine Services but operated by McDermott, now has an impressive set of specifications. At 420 x 128 x 28 ft. this is a big platform.

The barge’s main crane gives it some big capabilities. The Clyde Model 76DE-revolving crane is capable of lifting 1400 tons with its 235-ft. main boom at 115 ft. The auxiliary boom extends to 270 ft. and can lift 750 tons at 160 ft. while the whip extends to 300 ft. and will lift 250 tons. With the crane fixed over the stern it will lift 2400 short tons. The auxiliary electric power for the barge, which was originally built at the Kanrei yard in Tokushima Japan, is provided by four 1150 kw generators powered by 38-liter V-12 Cummins KTA38-D diesel engines. The generators sets produce 460 volt 60 Hz three phase power with the diesel engines turning at 1800 RPM. With the addition of these four gensets, the barge now has a total of 32 Cummins engines in various applications such as mooring winches, and auxiliary generator sets together with the heavy-lift crane.

The barge refit work was carried out in Dubai Dry Docks. The refit was mainly for changing some hull plates and installation of the four Cummins gensets with Danway supplied synchronization and distribution panels. The final commissioning was done at the Dubai McDermott works. This repower was part of a rolling refit to extend the barge life by another 15 years. To build such a barge would take 18 months and cost in the range of $240m. McDermott has six of these lift barges of various weights worldwide.