Shipyard fights odds to supply mammoth vessel before schedule

The Cochin Shipyard added another feather to its cap when the deck cargo/jacket launch barge built by it for the National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC), Abu Dhabi, was flagged off on Friday by the yard chairman and managing director Madhu S. Nair for delivery at the NPCC Yard at Mussafah, Abu Dhabi.

This is well ahead of the contractual delivery schedule of the vessel, on November 4 this year.

The contract for the barge, among the largest of its kind in the world with a length of 180 metres, breadth of 42 metres and depth of 11 metres, was signed in January last year. Designed by the yard to meet American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and various international regulations, it will be used for transportation and float over of offshore top sides up to 30,000 tonnes and launch of offshore jacket structures of up to 15,000 tonnes. The yard had previously built a barge for NPCC in 2003.

According to a top official, the NPCC contract was crucial for the yard as its planning department was concerned about the fabrication shop going idle.
Source: The Hindu