Hydro Deck’s One Of Its Kind Design Enables Efficiency For Offshore Windfarm Project

Mammoet’s versatile and adaptable Hydro Deck allowed for efficiency during a marine transportation for Sembcorp Marine Integrated Yard Pte Ltd.

Complete solution provided to client, with Hydro Deck used as an interim transport barge

Its task was to transport a 5,000t offshore substation topside and a 1,500t reaction compensation station topside from Batam, Indonesia to Singapore.

Hydro Deck’s large cargo surface area (5,600m2) allowed Mammoet to hold the two topsides and transport them in a single trip. This reduced the necessity to perform operational work more than once.

Combining Hydro Deck’s rapid ballasting system capacity with the flexibility of having roll-on/roll-off ramps on both the bow and stern of the barge, Mammoet minimized movement and rotation of the Hydro Deck. This was crucial because the operational period saw high sea traffic at both Batam and Singapore shipyards.

For this project, Mammoet redesigned the mooring arrangement by installing four additional mooring winches and eight roller fairleads on the Hydro Deck. This meant the barge did not need to be rotated, with load-in and load-out performed from either the bow or stern side.

Using a minimal number of maneuvers, the team was able to perform the load-in and load-out efficiently, maintaining the high safety standards required by the shipyard, while accommodating the reduced space available due to high sea traffic. A close eye was always kept on safety; by ensuring the rapid ballast system capacity met standards, and through maintenance on the system taking place on a regular basis, sharing updates with the client.

Besides the use of Hydro Deck as an interim barge, Mammoet supplied many services as a single point of contact. These included barging, weighing, mooring, ballasting, towing, tug management, plus load-out and load-in using 200 axle lines of SPMT.

Mammoet’s complete solution enabled the transportation of the topsides in one single journey.

The Hydro Deck is a floating pontoon developed in collaboration with AG&P for a range of operational needs in locations with extreme tidal variations. It increases the efficiency of operations where port facilities are less available or – as here – rapid ballasting is a key consideration.