(With link to video) Crowds of people turned out to watch as the world’s largest vessel, the Pioneering Spirit, departed Rotterdam Saturday morning 6 August.
Allseas’ record-breaking single-lift installation/decommissioning and pipelay vessel has been moored in Rotterdam’s Alexiahaven since January 2015 for installation, commissioning and testing of the topsides lift system. The Pioneering Spirit will now head to the Southern North Sea to perform offshore trials throughout August, which will include a series of test platform topsides installation and removal exercises under varying weather conditions.
After the successful completion of offshore trials, the vessel is expected to sail north to the Yme field, offshore Norway, to remove the 13,500 t Yme mobile offshore production unit (MOPU) for Repsol. Following removal of the Yme platform, the Pioneering Spirit will return to Rotterdam where the remaining four topsides lifting beams will be installed for the Shell Brent Delta topsides removal, scheduled for the summer of 2017.
Watch the video of the Pioneering Spirit as it departs from Rotterdam on the Allseas website. The picture at the top is a still from the same video.
