Largest Commercial Vessels (Oil, Gas, Container, Cruise)

GCaptain said:

The 488 meter long hull of Shell’s Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) plant has been floated out of the dry dock at the Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) yard in Geoje, South Korea, where it has been under construction for just over a year.

At 600,000 tons fully loaded, the vessel will be the largest floating structure ever constructed. To put that in perspective, the Prelude FLNG will displace nearly six times as much as water the largest aircraft carrier. At 488 meters long (1601 feet), the hull is almost 300 feet longer than Maersk’s new Triple-E containerships. The facility itself will be constructed with 260,000 tons of solid steel, or more than three times more steel than in the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s LNG tanks can store up to 220,000 m3 of LNG, 90,000 m3 of LPG, and 126,000 m3 of condensate, or a total capacity equivalent to approximately 175 Olympic swimming pools.

Shell plans to moor the Prelude FLNG some 200 kilometers off western Australia at the Prelude gas field for 25 years, where it is expected to produce the equivalent of 110,000 BOE per day.

In addition to its impressive size, the Prelude FLNG facility will be able to withstand Category 5 cyclones, secured in place by one of the largest mooring systems in the world. A 93-meter (305-foot) high turret will run through the facility while four groups of mooring lines will anchor it to the seabed. Three 6,700-horsepower stern thrusters, two of which will operate at any one time, will be used to pivot the facility either out of the wind or to allow LNG carriers to pull safely alongside to load.

Shell says that more than 600 people spent over 1.6 million hours working on different design options for the facility. Eight one-meter diameter pipes will extend about 150 meters below the facility and be used to pump cool seawater (50,000 m3 per hour) to chill the gas to -162° Celsius (-260°F), shrinking it by 600 times in volume and allowing it to be shipped directly from the facility itself.

“This is revolutionary technology developed by Shell,” says Neil Gilmour, Shell Vice President Integrated Gas Development. “It has the potential to change the way we produce natural gas.”

The Prelude FLNG, which analysts says may cost over $12 billion to build, is due to be producing by 2017.

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solarz said:

Just out of curiosity, what is the motivation behind building these supertankers, as opposed to multiple conventionally sized ships?

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solarz said:

Just out of curiosity, what is the motivation behind building these supertankers, as opposed to multiple conventionally sized ships?

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superdog said:

So if my calculation is correct, when the LNG tank of this thing is full, it will contain about the same energy as the largest hydrogen bomb in the US military arsenal?

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Current Mercy Ship's Hospital Ship, Africa Mercy

Artist's Concept of Mercy Ship's new Hosptial Ship design
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gCaptain said:

Mercy Ships has announced that it has reached an agreement with China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) to build a new 36,600-GRT hospital ship at the group’s Tianjin Xingang Shipyard. The 174-meter, Lloyd’s Register-classed, Malta-flagged hospital ship will be designed by the Finnish naval architecture firm Deltamarin. The construction project will be managed by Stena RoRo Managing Director, Per Westling.

This project will make this vessel the world’s largest civilian hospital ship, and delivery is being planned for July 2017,” stated Mr. Gao Xuehu, Chairman of Tianjin Xingang Shipbuilding Heavy Industry, Ltd.

Contracts were signed between Mr. Dong Qiang, VP of CSIC, and Donald K. Stephens, President/ Founder of Mercy Ships, together with Jim Paterson, Senior VP of Mercy Ships Marine Operations.

“We are thrilled to formally secure this important milestone for a project we have worked on quietly for quite some time,” said Stephens. “Our goal with this second Mercy Ship is to more than double the hope and healing through life-changing surgeries provided to those with little access to specialized healthcare and to increase the partnership of training and educational support of health professionals within the developing nations our ships will continue to serve.”

This agreement comes on the heels of the Mercy Ships story, recently highlighted by CBS on “60 Minutes.”

The 157-year-old French ship brokerage company Barry Rogliano Salles (BRS) under the leadership of its Geneva (Switzerland) office Managing Director, Gilbert Walter, negotiated the successful contract and sale.

CSIC is one of China’s largest shipbuilding and ship repair groups and operates directly under the China state government with authorisation for investment and capital management. The group has a total asset base of USD 27.54 billion and a workforce of 140,000. The group’s 28 R&D institutes employ more than 30,000 engineers, has eight state-level laboratory centers, seven enterprise technology centers and 150 large-scale laboratories.

The new Mercy Ship will be classed by Lloyd’s Register and flagged by Malta.

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Jeff Head said:

Uh...a couple of hydrodgen atoms, when fused together has that power.

What's the point?

One is destructive power held in reserve as a deterrent against total aggression that we all hope and pray to God is never used.

The other is carrying commercial material to be used for peaceful and life enhancing power.

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superdog said:

...it won't be parked near a city though.

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