Dockwise :: Weblog 2011

Although it is tempting to start about the Dutch back in the days of the East India Trading company, who, most likely, were the first inquisitive visitors to this extraordinary country some 400 years ago, I refer to it in this blog merely to illustrate the importance of innovation in our industry. The trading company had excellent in-house seafaring and navigational skills and a standardized and close to industrial-sized shipbuilding process at its yards in Amsterdam. Common citizens participated in the financing of these ships as well as trade. Back then, trade was regarded as the driving force when engaging with other nations in the East: it boosted the innovative character of the East India Trading Company and brought wealth to the Low Countries.

Today Australia has a rapidly growing LNG industry and claims a pole position in the export of iron ore and coal. The gas reserves are large, both offshore and onshore, and they underpin Australia’s ambition to become a reliable and sizeable supplier to the Asian LNG market hosting buyers that include China, India, Japan, and Korea. However, as large as they are, the Australian gas reserves are not always easy to develop.

The offshore upstream production facilities are located in ever more remote and harsher environments and their size and weight test the limits of our current industry’s capabilities. The construction of downstream LNG export plants, which are connected to said offshore production facilities, and, increasingly, to onshore Coal Bed Methane reserves, face environmental, labour and schedule constraints, and, therefore, seek answers in far-reaching modularisation.

The ongoing Gorgon Project shows a scale of never-seen-before modularisation. The Wheatstone project anticipates the largest offshore topside installation ever. The Browse project may see the first Tension Leg Platforms to be employed in Australian waters. The Ichthys Project revolves around a floating production unit, which is a step change larger than the largest to date.

Add to that the high-tech subsea infrastructure, the enormous trunk lines to shore and the remote locations where LNG export sites are planned, and then sit back and take in the enormity of what is happening on this island. And that was just the West Coast. The Eastern States, and Queensland in particular, have a potential that might even be bigger.

To cope with these challenges, innovative concepts become reality. And it all happens here in Australia. A world class example is the Prelude Floating LNG Project, developed for application in Australian waters, which has triggered a wave of similar F-LNG developments.

Dockwise - pioneer of the semi-submersible heavy transport vessel, a highly innovative vessel back then - faces demanding clients and challenging developments in the industry. It is fascinating to see what answers we continue to offer our clients. The world’s next top model of semi-submersible heavy transport technology is shaping up in the form of the Type 0 vessel, under construction at Hyundai Heavy Industries’ yard in Korea as we speak. It will allow the industry to design production assets that reach far beyond today’s limits. Future, exceptionally large production Semis, TLPs, FPSOs and F-LNGs are welcome onboard the Type 0 vessel for safe and fast dry transportation.

As a naval architect with a shipping and innovation background, I find Australia an energizing environment to work in, and, from time to time, I have to force myself to get out there and explore this impressive continent or simply take the boat out to Rottnest Island where ancient seafarers must have encountered Quokkas for the first time.

Ben van der Hoeven
Area Manager Australia