Italian offshore giant Saipem will take over the JSD6000 deep-water pipe-laying crane vessel, one of the world’s most advanced offshore vessels and China’s first J-Lay and S-Lay mode multi-purpose pipe-laying vessel, which was developped and constructed by Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery (ZPMC) in June.
The JSD6000 deep-water pipe-laying crane vessel is under a five-year bareboat charter with two additional extension options of one year each, and is expected to be delivered to Saipem in June 2024, according to the charter contract.
The company noted that the charter is in line with its capital-light strategy as defined in its strategic plan, allowing it to expand its range of services by adding a vessel that meets the highest safety and environmental standards.
On May 28th, ZPMC’s Changxing base held a closing ceremony for the JSD6000 deep-water pipe-laying crane vessel, which was designed by the Norwegian ship design company Ulstein.
The vessel has an overall length of 215.88 meters, a beam of 49.00 meters and can accommodate 399 people. It is equipped with 5,000-ton full-circle slewing crane, J-Lay and S-Lay pipe-laying systems, 8-point positioning mooring system and DP3 power positioning system.
The vessel is powerful and capable of a wide range of laying pipe diameters covering 6 to 60 inches. Also, it has the ability to lay pipes in shallow water, deep water and ultra-deep water, and the maximum pipe-laying operation can be carried out in 3,000 meters.
In addition, it can also provide underwater salvage, platform dismantling and installation, offshore wind power installation and other offshore lifting operations, and its operational sea area can cover the world’s major sea areas.
According to public sources, the JSD6000 deep-water pipe-laying crane vessel was initially signed by Petrofac, a UK-based oil service company, with ZPMC on January 17, 2014, with an order value of about $200 million, and was originally scheduled to be delivered in 2016. However, in October 2015, Petrofac announced the termination of the construction contract with ZPMC.In 2018, Petrofac confirmed its exit from the deepwater market and sold the unfinished offshore vessel to ZPMC.
On April 1, 2019, ZPMC officially started the construction of this vessel; completed the launching on December 27, 2020; completed the sea trial in May 2023, and acquired the approval certification from Lloyd’s Register (LR) in December of the same year.
