Engineering giants Wärtsilä called upon us to provide project management, supervision and manpower services onboard the McDermott – Amazon vessel whilst it underwent a major refurbishment in Rotterdam. Although only 4 years old the vessel has been re-purposed to add multi-joint (hex) J-Lay system to handle the most challenging ultra-deep-water projects.  

The modifications consisted of removing the existing tower and replacing it with a J-Lay system with 1,500 metric tons (1,653 tons) of dynamic top tension on the tower, which will enable large subsea structures and hex sections of pipelines from 4.5 to 24 inches (11 to 60 centimetres) to be installed. 

Customer Requirements:

• Multi-skilled team of experienced Marine Engineers to supervise the installation of MV Cabling Network, Data Cables, General Power & Automation Systems throughout the entire ship.  

• In addition, the provision of qualified welding teams and inventory management professionals to aid the smooth running of an enormous refit. 

Project Management at a moment’s notice

Experienced Electrical and Mechanical Supervision services were requested to assist with the removal of the now redundant cabling, before laying the new automation and HV cabling.

Working in partnership with the IHC management, Wärtsilä engineers and numerous third organisations our supervisors were responsible for implementing the project schedule, liaising with all parties to prevent project slippage and advising on possible engineering conflicts.

An additional Supervisor and three additional technicians were deployed to carry out the quality control on all Wärtsilä work packs before hand-over to IHC, this included fine inspections to confirm that all elements of the work carried out were in accordance with local and Class procedures.

Safety is at the heart of everything we do and we were proud to oversee the LOTO procedures onboard, in this role, we assigned one of our experienced electrical engineers the responsibility to utilise contract documents and drawings to identify the energy sources for the assets to be locked and tagged out. Visit all process areas of the vessel to locate assets, gather appropriate information for locking out and tagging out the asset and write the lockout / tagout procedure. We are delighted to report the project was completed without any safety incidents in our area of responsibility.

The final member to join the site fulfilled the role of logistical support. This involved managing day to day plans including order/route management, inventory management and daily communication with internal/external customers and stakeholders. Utilising their logistical skills our team helped install a ‘just in time’ delivery approach which allowed the smallest possible foot print on site, whilst delivering the customers requirements.

The Results

"This represents our strategic vision for the Amazon to competitively position it as one of the world's best ultra-deepwater vessels," said David Dickson, President and Chief Executive Officer of McDermott, last year. 

As of March 2022, the project was fully commissioned with CA Marine's efforts playing a major part in the delivery of a monumental feat of engineering.