Jack-up Barge GMS Endurance to Receive Major Upgrades at Shipdock

The GMS Endurance arrived at Shipdock in Amsterdam having cruised all the way from Tunisia, after completing a successful shutdown project there of British Gas. GMS Endurance is a self-propelled, self-elevating, jack-up barge, built by Gulf Marine Services in Mussafah, Abu Dhabi, based on the Dutch GustoMSC design.

The barge is receiving some major changes and upgrades at Shipdock before embarking on a 2-year well maintenance project in the UK Southern North Sea. The reason for this visit to Shipdock is that the jack-up barge now needs to undergo some major changes and upgrades, including a larger main crane, before embarking on a 2-year well-maintenance project in the British waters of the southern North Sea. Gulf Marine Services (GMS), is the largest Elevated Support Vessel operator in the Middle East, currently running a fleet of eight state-of-the-art self-propelled jack-up barges and two offshore supply and anchor handling vessels to serve their worldwide client network in the oil, gas and renewables sectors. GMS focuses its activities on offshore accommodation, well maintenance, project management, construction and installation activities.

Normally GMS constructs and maintains its vessels at its site in Mussaffah and has an extensive building and replacement programme revolving around the construction of Gusto NG2500X DPII ESV’s. These vessels are built to the highest offshore standards and have the ability to operate anywhere in the world, in all environments and under any conditions.

Project manager Arjan de Vos is very happy to supervise this job: “Even though GMS has its own excellent engineering resources, we have been selected to carry out these major modifications, in which all of our additional value comes into use: docking facilities, on-site steel construction and machining, heavy lifting gear and so on.”

During the 2-month stay in Amsterdam of the GMS Endurance, the modifications Shipdock will carry out on the GMS Endurance consist of:

• replacing the existing 160t main crane with a much larger and heavier Huisman 300t crane
• reinforcements of the deck structure by using about 60 additional tonnes of steel supports in order to support this new crane; and our sister company Niron Staal has been subcontracted to manufacture a completely new crane pedestal to cope with the increased lifting capacity
• the installation of new helideck-refuelling equipment, a sprinkler system and the construction of blast walls to improve safety
• thorough inspection, repair and cleaning of the immense, 94.2-meter high legs by rope access crews
• dry-dock for a short period for an extensive hull inspection and bottom repainting.

Arjan de Vos: “I started working at Shipdock as a trainee, about eight years ago. It was the first job I ever had and I have stayed here ever since. Why? Because it was fascinating and challenging jobs like this, that initially made me choose this business.”

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Offshore Nieuws Staff, June 06, 2012; Image: shipdock