COES has awarded the construction Contract of its two new semi-submersible Heavy Lift Vessels to Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry’s Dalian Shipyard. The contract signing ceremony was held on 9th Dec. 2019. Both vessels are expected to deliver in 2022.  

Both vessels have the same capacities, with DP2 systems and 12,000t lifting capacity for worldwide operations. Both semi-submersible heavy lift vessels are designed for carrying the large cargos up to 26,000t, such as TLP’s topsides, cranes, bridge sections and also other floating or non-floating structures. In order to create maximum free deck area, the aft buoyancy casings can be removed and positioned anywhere on the deck, to provide maximum flexibility of the deck arrangement.

Both vessels are designed with submersible draught of 21.4m, which is 10.5m height water over deck when submerged. Allow large floating cargoes such as other vessels to be floated over the submerged portion of the vessel which then de-ballasts and surfaces under the cargo. After the vessel is full afloat, the cargo is secured for transport. Float-off is the reversed process of float-on.  

For each vessel, there are 28 linear winches located at the central line of the ship in the salvage lifting operation. Each winch with pulling capacity of 450t and is equipped with steel wire rope and a horizontal to vertical guide roller located at the side of the vessel. The total lifting capacity of each vessel during salvage operation is 12,000t and when two vessels working in pairs, the total lifting capacity is 24,000t.