VB-10,000 Deepwater Contruction Capabilities

US Flagged/ABS Class

The VB-10,000 is a US flagged, Jones Act compliant heavy lift construction vessel which can offer several unique capabilities for deepwater projects. The vessel is classed by ABS as a Maltese Cross A1 Barge HLDK DPS-3 (twin hull construction vessel). The vessel has eight retractable, azimuthing thrusters.

Large Open Moon Pool

As a catamaran vessel the VB-10,000 provides a very large moon pool (160 feet of open clearance between the hulls) for lifting and lowering operations. Transport barges and supply vessels can deliver the components to be lifted directly under the gantries and lifting hoists simplifying hook-up and set-down.

Lowering/lifting Capacity

The VB-10,000 has four main lift hoists, four auxiliary hoists and multiple rigging support hoists. The main hoists can be reconfigured as required to provide a wide range of lifting and lowering capacities at varying water depths. The vessel has four 1500-ton capacity heavy lift blocks rated for continuous underwater service. The main and auxiliary hoists are synchronized via the main PLC lifting control system, and direct in-lined electronic load monitoring is provided for the main and auxiliary hoists (for any line part configuration).

The multiple independent hoists provide a high degree of operational control and flexibility allowing for leveling subsea, and simplifying rigging solutions. As components are lifted or lowered through the water surface, weight and CoG variations are easily accommodated by the multiple hoist lines.

The table below gives the rated lifted and lowering capacities with varying water depths. Higher capacities at deeper water depths may be achieved by switching to fiber rope hoists lines and the use of traction winches.

Riser retrieval and hand-off

The lift gantries can support multiple work decks and packages for various specialized construction activities. The figure below shows the vessel rigged for deepwater pipelay/riser retrieval and hand-off.

In this configuration the VB-10,000 can retrieve pre-laid flowlines to surface and install flex joints, stress joints etc. The riser can then be attached to a platform based pull-system and handed off for final installation.

Integrated VB group services

The Versabar Group can provide multiple support services which can be integrated with the VB-10,000 operations to provide turnkey deepwater construction operations. Specifically, our high capability fabrication facilities can fabricate multiple subsea hardware components including jumpers, manifolds, PLETS, PLEMS and suction piles. As the established provider of platform based riser hand-off and pull-in equipment (winch and chain jack systems) Versabar can provide a one-stop shop for the retrieval and installation of pre-laid flowlines and risers.

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