A Closeup of Remedial ESV Solution at full extention.
The Remedial ESV Solution is shown at full extention during Jacking Certification Trials.
The Remedial ESV Solution shown at night during Sea/Jacking Trials.
Each of the three azimuthing thrusters aboard the Remedial ESV Solution can generate as much thrust as an average tug boat. (The starboard unit on the stern is shown here.)
Viewed close-up, the vessel's bow thruster seems as large as the anchor in the near background. Thrusters provide the self-propulsion capability which sets Remedial's ESV units apart from other jack-up platform barges.
The bow thruster seems small in comparison to the dry-docked vessel's helideck looming overhead -- but large in comparison to the wheeled man-lift parked alongside it.
One of the Remedial ESV Solution's three azimuthal thrusters is hoisted above the vessel's helipad on its way for installation into a thruster well.
Overhead view shows workers installing the ESV unit's starboard aft thruster in its well before the deck cover can be placed (note bolts in foreground). Each of the three thrusters delivers as much motive power as an average tug boat.
COSCO Qidong shipyard workers are finishing a number of commissioning tasks as they prepare to conduct electrical load tests and then proceed with the jacking trial for for the ESV Remedial Solution.
Here the closed dry dock has been drained, allowing the vessel to settle onto its spud cans and completely support itself for the first time since it was launched at quayside prior to the final installation of its 425-foot legs.
Here the dry dock's gates have been closed behind the floating vessel.
Here the Remedial ESV Solution enters dry dock to be prepared for its jacking system tests. Given unstable soil condition in the riverbed near the COSCO Qidong shipyard, large sand boxes were constructed inside the dry-dock to accommodate the tests and improve saftey for personnel and the vessel.
The last leg section is placed into position, leaving only the final welding of the legs and thruster commissioning before the Remedial ESV Solution is ready for sea trials and delivery.
Here is the first leg reaching its final height -- roughly 130 meters (425 feet) above its spud can nestled below the Solution's hull.
Pinpoint precision is required by the crane operator in placing the ESV leg sections so they can be welded into their final positions.
Viewed from the shipyard crane cabin, the vessel's three in-progress legs are much closer. Here all three legs have received their next-to-last sections; each of the final sections to be placed will be a bit longer.
The leg section appears larger from the deck of the Solution.
Here the crane picks up the next section for the second leg.
Here a shipyard crane places the next section atop one of the Solution's legs.
Even though the Remedial ESV Solution (left) is derived from the Super M2, a large, 300-class jack-up rig, the ESV unit appears smaller viewed alongside a deepwater drilling rig (right) under construction at the Qidong yard.
Part of the Solution's towing operation took place at night, enabling some of the first-ever images of the vessel ablaze with lights on the darkened river.
Cosco Nantong shipyard workers shoot photos as the Solution casts off from quayside on its way down-river to the Cosco Qidong shipyard where its construction and comissioning will be completed.
Local media covered the May 27 naming ceremony for Remedial Offshore's first ESV unit at the Cosco Nantong shipyard. Here the cameras record the action as officials from Cosco Shipyards and the City of Nantong join Remedial executives on the speakers' platform.
The vessel's name was shrouded by a large red banner before the naming ceremony got underway.
As the ceremony neared its end, dignitaries jointly grasped a release lever to remove the shroud...
... and the vessel's name was formally revealed to a crowd of shipyard workers, Remedial Offshore employees and others gathered for the event.
The main pedestal crane atop its base looms large as shipyard visitors don hardhats to tour the nearly complete vessel. This was a 'farewell' ceremony of sorts for Nantong since the Solution must sail down-river, under a bridge, to another Cosco shipyard at Qidong before the remaining sections of its legs and its thrusters can be installed for sea trials.
The clear deck under the main pedestal crane will be the primary rig-up area for third-party contractors when the vessel enters service.
From under the main crane, looking toward the bow, one sees the open deck space, access points to below-deck storage, and portions of the triangular accommodations block which surround the vessel's forward leg.
Six large motor-driven pinion gears on each side of each leg will engage the racks to raise and lower the jack-up vessel.
When the legs are fully retracted, or when the vessel is jacked-up on location, massive 'rack chocks' will engage the racks and lock the legs into position.
This vessel's captains will control the vessel in transit from this console on the forward bridge. (The flooring is temporarily covered with striped tarps.)
There are no 'wheels' aboard modern vessels; each of these three controls commands one of the vessel's thrusters -- each with roughly the same power as an individual tug boat.
Although everyone hopes it will never be needed, here is one of the vessel's two 120-person lifeboats.
Inside the lifeboat, safety harnesses dangle, unused but ready.
ESV crew members and visitors will appreciate the meals prepared in the vessel's two galleys.
Stove burners must be equipped with rails to prevent pots from shifting when meals must be prepared while the vessel is in transit.
For most crew personnel, meals will be received through the serving window at the end of this dining area -- the mess room.
In the officers' mess, the tables are round, but the swivel chairs are still mounted on stationary pedestals.
The Remedial ESV Solution fairly bristles with equipment as it is moored quayside while systems commissioning work progresses.
Structural work is virtually complete, so shipyard teams focus on systems commissioning, such as installing jacking motors like those in the center here. Each of the triangular truss legs has 18 motors, arrayed in three sets of six motors, engaging toothed chord rack (visible at top) at each corner of the leg.
The cab and hoist mechanisms for main ESV pedestal crane (280 MT/300T) make its large, elevated base structure seem small by comparison.
This is the first close-up view of the vessel most ESV visitors -- when they disembark on the helideck.
Viewed from above, the ESV helideck, which will support the industry's largest helicopters, almost looks compact. (Note men near rail at left for scale)
The Remedial ESV Solution looms large behind a pair of shipyard cranes.
Here the Remedial ESV Solution is floating with all three cabs for its cranes in position, and both smaller cranes have been fitted with their booms.
Remedial Offshore marked the launch of its first ESV unit December 16, 2008, when the vessel was skidded onto a quayside barge at the COSCO Nantong Shipyard. (Click here to see more launch ceremony photos.)
Viewed from the bow with its hull painted and scaffolding removed, the world's first ESV unit looks more like a sea-going vessel.
This high-angle view shows a forward leg section being "inserted" into the leg well that is surrounded by the quarters blocks.
The port side leg (foreground) rises above the ESV hull and the elevated base for the vessel's main pedestal crane has been placed on deck (right).
The ESV helideck is placed atop the bow.
This is the moveable base on which the main pedestal crane will be mounted. This structure will traverse to/from the stern on tracks without obstructing equipment stored or rigged-up on the ESV deck beneath it.
Viewed from below, this thruster well indicates how large an ESV thruster will be. Each has roughly the same propulsive power of a single tug boat.
Viewed from below the bow, quarters blocks rise three decks above the hull.
As the main deck foundations for the accommodation blocks are added to the hull, the ESV bow grows taller and looks more like an ocean-going vessel.
With its bow thruster block (left) in place, the ESV hull structure is complete. Here nearly all the main deck is installed and fabricated quarters blocks can be seen on either side of the bow (at top and bottom of frame).
This ESV™ unit's hull is reaching its final dimensions with all three leg well blocks in place and the first transom block attached. Portions of the main deck are in place -- and all the engines, pumps, generators and other equipment that are shrouded here will disappear from view as the deck is completed.
With the bow leg well attached (left) and the port leg well (right foreground) and starboard leg well (right background) being assembled, the ESV™ hull takes on the characteristic triangular shape of a three-legged jack-up rig.
This April 30, 2008, overhead image shows the ESV™ unit from the bow with quarters blocks on either side and "starter rounds" for the unit's three legs arrayed across the background, beyond the starboard and port spud cans.
Painting is in-progress on this portion of one ESV™ leg well. This view shows part of a pre-load tank in the center, flanked by double-bottom sections.
Here one can see the rounded "spud cans" and the double-bottom section of the ESV™ hull coming together.