Damen overhauls DEME jack-up installation vessel

Damen Verolme Rotterdam has completed a major refit of DEME’s DP-2 heavy-lift jack-up installation vessel Innovation.

The vessel spent several months in the Verolme shipyard undergoing renewal of its aft leg sections and an overhaul of its jacking motors.

The Innovation measures 147.5 metres (484 feet) in length and operates on an electrical rack and pinion jacking system.

The most significant aspect of this refit, according to Damen, was the modification and re-installation of the Innovation’s aft legs, each measuring 89 metres (292 feet) in length.

Reinforcement work was carried out on the legs to enable them to cope with an increased rate of jacking operations.

Once the vessel was drydocked the two aft legs were removed and two new middle sections were inserted on the quayside, the refurbished leg finally being assembled from three parts.

In total 47 metres (154 feet) of section per leg were replaced.

To overhaul the jacking motors, all 48 gearboxes of the aft legs were removed, overhauled in the shipyard’s workshop, and reinstalled on the vessel.

Additional general maintenance work completed the refit, which included a box-cooler renewal, maintenance to the spudcan shoes, replacement of one aft thruster, small steel repairs, and the installation of a new pile gripper.

Given the height of the Innovation’s leg sections, Verolme shipyard’s mammoth drydock offered the possibility to lift the vessel’s legs with a crane installed inside the drydock while the vessel was sitting on the dock blocks, allowing maintenance to be carried out safely and efficiently, Damen said.

The Innovation has set sail to the SeaMade project in the Belgian North Sea to install 58 foundations.

Source: Offshore Magazine