Complicated work completed for the Petrobras Mexilhão Project greatly raises GPLN member’s profile

Singapore, 19 June 2008 – J. Martens (Asia-Pacific) Pte Ltd, a Singapore member of GPLN, recently successfully completed the load out of a Mono Ethylene Glycol (MEG) module for Petrobras’ Mexilhão project.

The Module weighed 558 tons, measuring 19.25 x 12.00 x 17.50 in meters.

During the planning stages, we encountered several challenges for the company. Their first challenge came when the classification society rejected the original nominated vessel and a substitute vessel was brought in. This notice came less than a week before the scheduled lifting date.

J. Martens’s next challenge then became that the substitute vessel was undergoing repair in a Singapore shipyard. In order to meet the critical required-on-site deadline in Brazil, J. Martens had proposed to load the module in the shipyard berth instead of the usual commercial port. This required special privileged approval by the port authorities, the shipyard and the warranty surveyor. However, with J. Martens proven track record in the marine, oil & gas arenas, the proposal was accepted without objections.

To add to the challenges, the pick-up location at the fabrication yard had a very shallow water depth in which J. Martens was required to engage qualified divers to proceed with underwater surveys prior to operation.

“In addition, the tight schedule of the floating crane operators in Singapore forced we to look far and wide,” said Martin Runshaug, J. Martens managing director in Singapore, “Normally fixtures of such cranes require advance notice of several months. Based on our expertise in heavy-lift and our excellent relations, we managed to open a one day lifting window in which we managed to complete the load-out, transport and loading within seven hours.”

Deploying L-1501 floating crane with a 1500 ton lifting capacity, the module was moved using the ‘lift & go’ method from the fabricators yard to the shipyard.

“We are extremely proud of having overcome the many challenges and successfully completed the MEG load-out to the satisfaction of all parties involved, especially knowing the strategic importance and critical timeline of this project,” said Martin Runshaug, “The early planning and risk assessments helped us adapt to the many difficulties faced as the project went along, thanks to our dedicated project team and our trusted vendors.”