News / Heavy lifting creates harbour spectacle
LERWICK Harbour was the scene of an unusual spectacle as the heavy lifting vessel Xiang Yun Kou submerged herself to unload a huge Premier Oil tank in Brei Wick on Friday morning.
She did so with the help of three Orkney Towage tugs – Einar, Erlend and Harald – along with Lerwick Port Authority’s harbour tugs the Kebister and Knab.
LPA chief executive Sandra Laurenson said the Xiang Yun Kou had taken advantage of “perfect” weather conditions and gone out to the Brei Wick anchorage on Thursday night.
The giant vessel had arrived in Lerwick on Monday to undergo preparatory works ahead of the unloading operations – chiefly the removal of sea fastenings that secure the cargo onto the deck of the ship.
Once out at Brei Wick the Xiang Yun Kou ballasted down – meaning the midsection of the vessel was completely submerged to allow the oil tank, which was being secured by the tugs, to be floated off the ship.
In order to sink down a water depth of at least 30 metres was required. With calm seas and the Bressay lighthouse in the background, the scene made for some spectacular photos.
Weather conditions offshore are “a bit unpredictable”, Laurenson said, meaning the oil tank has been taken to Holmsgarth where it will remain until Monday.
“The tugs, some hired in from Orkney Towage plus the Knab and Kebister, have all been involved in the float-off and taking the tank safely back into the port,” she told Shetland News.
Once the weather is more favourable, large tugs owned by the Dutch company Heerema will take the tank out to the Solan field to the west of Shetland. Semi-submersible crane vessel the Thialf left Shetland bound for the oil field late last night.
Xian Yun Kou has now been re-ballasted and is expected to depart Lerwick before 3pm on Friday.
Laurenson said there had been a lot of interest in the operation from members of the public.
“I think because of the sheer size of the vessel it was quite interesting – we’ve had a lot of people asking about it and interested to hear about the operation and see how it’s done.”
She added: “There’s quite a number of these float on/float off transport ships now – there’s maybe only a couple in the world that’s bigger than this particular ship, but there’s a good half a dozen or more of the same size.
“It’s very international – that ship came from Dubai to here, and goodness knows where she might be off to next – it could be the Far East, the Middle East…”
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