IHC Merwede has launched Subsea 7’s 550t pipelaying vessel, Seven Waves, at its shipyard in Krimpen aan den IJssel, the Netherlands.

The naming ceremony was carried out by Mrs Lucia Andrade, the ship’s God Mother and Subsea 7 Brazil’s Vice President Projects & Operations. The keel-laying ceremony was held one month ahead of schedule and the delivery of the vessel will be as planned in the first half of 2014. This pipelaying ship will be used to develop deep-sea oilfields of up to 2500 metres off the coast of Brazil on behalf of Petrobras.

The Seven Waves is the fifth vessel contracted by Subsea 7 to IHC Merwede’s Offshore division. The other ships were launched and delivered under the names of:

  • Seven OceansS (pipelaying);
  • Seven Seas (pipelaying and construction);
  • Seven Atlantic (diving support); and
  • Seven Pacific (pipelaying).

Seven Waves Particulars

  • Type 550t pipelaying vessel
  • Customer Subsea 7
  • Builder IHC Offshore & Marine BV
  • Length overall 145.9m
  • Beam 30 m
  • Class 2 dynamic positioning system
  • Breadth moulded 29.9m
  • Depth main deck 13m
  • Draught (operational) 7.2m
  • Draught (max) 8.3m
  • Deadweight (operational) 7,025t
  • Deadweight (max) 11,312t
  • Vertical (tiltable) lay system with 550t top tension capacity
  • Twin ROVs
  • Two under-deck storage carousels, with a capacity for 2 500 t and 1500 t of product respectively
  • The lay tower can operate at an angle of up to 10° and is fitted with: two tensioners, each with a 275t capacity, which can both be retracted clear of the firing line, and two wire centralisers
  • Accommodation 120 people