''Solitaire'' is a large deep-sea
pipe laying ship. It was at the time of conversion the world's largest
pipe-laying ship at long (excluding pipe-laying apparatus) and .
When fully operational she has a crew of 420,
[ a pipe carrying capacity of 22,000 tonnes and a pipe lay speed of more than 9 km a day. The ship is owned by the Allseas Group, a Dutch pipelaying and marine construction firm with their headquarters in Switzerland.
]
History
The ship was initially built in 1972 as a bulk carrier
A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, ec ...
and launched as ''Trentwood'' by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the predecessor of Mitsubishi Moto ...
at their shipyard in Hiroshima, Japan.Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
on a lump sum basis; however, the contract was terminated in 1995. The ship was subsequently converted at the Swan Hunter yard on Tyneside
Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt.
The population of Tyneside as publish ...
, United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. ''Solitaire'' laid her first pipe on Statoil's Europipe project in 1999.
Allseas and Sembcorp
Sembcorp Industries (Sembcorp) is an energy and urban development company.
Sembcorp's marine division provided a variety of services, including the engineering and construction of offshore platforms for oil extraction, until it was demerged ...
reached a settlement for the ''Solitaire'' arbitration in 2006.
In 2006, while working on the Atwater Valley and Independence Trail projects in the Gulf of Mexico, ''Solitaire'' set new depth records, laying 10-inch pipeline in 2775 m (9100 ft) water depth and 24-inch pipeline in 2550 m (8370 ft) water depth.
Among other ships, ''Solitaire'' laid the Nord Stream 2
Nord Stream 2 (German-English mixed expression; german: Nord and en, Stream 2, literally 'North Stream2'; russian: Северный поток — 2) is a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany running through the Baltic Sea, financed by ...
gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and fr ...
in 2019—2020.
References
External links
* 2min , from Mighty Ships
''Mighty Ships'' is a documentary television program produced by Exploration Production Inc. in Canada and aired on Discovery Channel Canada and also broadcast around the world. Each episode of the series follows a particular sea-going vessel a ...
1971 ships
Ships of the Netherlands
Crane vessels
Pipe-laying ships
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