CMN goes offshore

Marking an important diversification away from its traditional focus on building sophisticated military craft, the Cherbourg yard Constructions Mecaniques de Normandie (CMN) delivered the multi-purpose offshore supply vessel, Kiesse, on September 7 this year.

The owner, Sonasurf, is a joint venture between Sonangol, the national oil company of Angola, and SURF, the French offshore services specialist, which will operate the vessel. The Kiesse will be put at the disposal of the Elf oil company and will serve oil production platforms in the deep water Girassol field.

The vessel has been built by CMN to the UT 719-2 design provided by Ulstein Ship Technology of Norway, and is essentially configured to provide conventional supply services between shore bases and offshore installations. The vessel is flexible in its configuration, however, striking a balance between an immediate supply and fire fighting role, and anchor-handling capability in the future.

This newbuilding is particularly orientated toward the requirements of the West African offshore market, where SURF has a major presence. The Ulstein designers have thus focussed on providing SURF with a relatively wide range of abilities while maintaining a limited 5.2m draught, and a high degree of manoeuvrability. Ulstein notes that Kiesse, and two near-sisters being built at the Chantiers Piriou yard, have been acquired to provide competitive, state-of-the-art replacements for the tonnage which was previously being employed off Africa and which was originally designed for use in the Gulf of Mexico.

The biggest vessel ever built at CMN, Kiesse is 64.2m long overall, 15.5m wide and has a deadweight of about 1,949t at the design draught of 5.2m. The maximum draught midships is 5.75m.

Fitted with a total of 11 cylindrical tanks, the vessel is equipped for transporting various liquids, including between 930m3 and 1,350m3 of fuel oil, up to 1,146m3 of rig water, 420m3 of sludge, and 250m3 of fresh water. In addition, the ballast tanks have a volume of 780m3 and these may be used to carry brine, if necessary.

Furthermore, the vessel is well equipped to carry deck cargo such as small offshore containers and pipes. The deck loading capacity is 1,000t on an open deck area of 468m2. Dry bulk cargoes, including up to up to 248m3 of cement, can also be carried.