No Mist for this Gorilla

3. Triumph and Rowan Gorilla III finally outbound for sea. The ship is trimmed by the stern.

2. Passing Halterm, the size of the rig is apparent. A small auxiliary wheelhouse is fitted on the ship's forecastle to allow visibility when carrying large loads.

1. Weighing anchor, the tug Atlantic Oak will assist in turning the ship in the anchorage area.

I was hoping for a misty day so that I could paraphrase the title of Dian Fossey's book Gorillas in the Mist when Rowan Gorilla III left port, but the sun broke out just as her heavy lift carrier Triumph got underway late this afternoon.

It is difficult to visualize the scale of this immense rig, and the size of ship needed to transport it, but as she passed Halterm, some of the dredging equipment in the foreground gives some idea.

The tug Atlantic Oak escorted the ship outbound with a line up on the stern, just to ensure that it was able to turn in the anchorage, and to stay in the channel outbound.

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Wild day in the harbour

Gales, snow, inconveniences for travellers, but a major headache for the heavy lift ship Triumph.

Yesterday's storm, which dropped a few centimeters of snow on Halifax, brought with it gale force winds, and the Triumph could not keep its position at number one anchorage. They called in tugs to keep the ship head up into the wind. Two tugs attended the ship all times yesterday and through the night - taking turns to allow for crew changes- until conditions calmed down. Even at 0800 this morning, when things looked fairly peaceful, the tug Atlantic Fir has a line up and is pulling to keep the ship in position.

With the huge jack-up drilling rig Rowan Gorilla III on deck acting as a giant sail, the ship's own anchors were not enough to hold it in place. A tracking map on AIS shows the ship moving over quite a large area in the lower harbour.

Other shipping was able to arrive and depart despite the weather, but they had to give Triumph a wide berth as it yawed back and forth.

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Good Day for a Floatover

1. Late afternoon: rig in place, ship floating up, deck almost clear.

2. Mid-morning: ship deeply submerged and ready for rig.

3. Mid-morning: rig underway in control of four tugs (moving left to right in this photo) with wet snow in the air.

Visibility was partly obscured by wet snow, but there was little wind, and so it was a good day to float the jack-up rig Rowan Gorilla III over the Triumph.

The operation started at 0830 when the pilots and four tugs started to move the rig from its berth at the Woodside pier in Dartmouth. The rig's legs were raised from the bottom and it began to float on its own hull. The tugs Atlantic Fir, Atlantic Larch, Atlantic Oak, and Atlantic Willow then moved the rig across the harbour to number one anchorage and aligned it to float over the Triumph.

Triumph was semi-submerged so that its cargo deck was well below the surface. By about 1100 the "float over" started and the rig was in its final position shortly after noon. It took lots of push/pull on the tugs to get it in the exact position to fit between brackets set on the ship's deck.

As soon as the rig was finally positioned pumping up operations started on the ship. This is a slow process and it was not until late afternoon that the ship's deck began to appear above water.

The ship's crew must now make the attachments to secure the rig for sea before they can sail. This is expected to take a day or so. In the meantime gales are forecast, which will probably keep the ship in port until the first of the week.

Triumph was built as the tanker Marble in 1992 by the Brodospas shipyard in Split, Croatia. It was purchased by Dockwise and converted to a heavylift ship in 2008. Dockwise has a large fleet of similar ships, several of which have called in Halifax, that specialize in moving oil field equipment around the world. Their web site has many spectacular photos of their work, which also includes dedicated yacht transport. See http://www.dockwise.com/

Rowan Gorilla III was built in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1984 by Marathon-Le Tourneau. Owned by the Rowan companies, it is capable of working in water up to 450 feet deep and can drill to depths of 30,000 feet. It has worked in our waters off and on many times over the years. After a 2000 program it was taken to Sabine Pass, Texas where its legs were extended from 343 feet to the present 504 feet.

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The next big thing

The semi-submersible heavy lift ship Triumph arrived yesterday afternoon. This morning the deck crew was hard at work setting up blocks and other gear on deck. They are getting ready to load the jack-up rig Rowan Gorilla III, which should happen in the next few days.

Because the number one anchorage area was occupied by Chemul, the ship will have to move to that area before the loading takes place.

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