Hyundai Heavy builds world's first dedicated FPSO drydock

SEOUL, April 5 (Yonhap) -- Hyunday Heavy Industries Co. said Sunday that it has
completed work on the world's first dedicated drydock for floating production
storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels.
The global shipbuilding leader said the new "H dock" would be the single largest
drydock in the world at 490 meters long, 115 meters across and 13.5 meters deep.
The Ulsan-based company added it will be used to build ships of up to 1 million
tons.
The first FPSO ship to be built at the new dock will be the USAN EPSO ordered by
Elf Petroleum Nigeria Ltd. in February 2008. Hyundai will receive US$1.6 billion
for the ship that is designed to store and refine large quantities of crude oil
and gas.
The vessel to be built for the subsidiary of France-based Total SA will be 320
meters long, 61 meters wide and 32 meters deep.
Hyundai said the new drydock will be serviced by two 1,600 ton cranes that allow
engineers to simultaneously construct the ship's hull as well as its upper
superstructure. In the past, the sheer size of FPSO vessels required the hulls to
be made first at ordinary drydocks and then moved to another part of the yard so
the superstructure can be fitted.
Hyundai said this streamlined process will reduce the time involved in producing
FSPO ships by a month and cut production costs by 15 percent. It added that if no
FPSOs are being built, the facility can be used to build four 180,000 tons ships
at the same time.
Up to 12 super-large ships can be built in H dock per year, further boosting the
global competitiveness of the company.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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