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Load-out one the White Marlin (ALE)

ALE has loaded-out the Malikai Tension Leg Platform (TLP), weighing 27,500t, at Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering (MMHE) West in Johor Darul Takzim, Malaysia. The actual skidding was completed in just twelve hours marking another major milestone for the Malikai Project.

This load-out was part of the contracted scope of work for the Malikai Project, which was awarded on behalf of TMJV. In July 2015, ALE was responsible for Superlift activities which include weighing the Topside, jacking it up 40m using ALE’s Mega Jack system and skidding it 90m at elevation before mating the Topside with the Hull. Currently, it stands as the world’s highest ever jack-up and skidding operations on this scale.

Subsequently in March 2016, ALE skidded the TLP 75m onto the ‘White Marlin’ vessel using eight strand jacks, with 900t capacity each. Each strand jack was fitted with 39 strand wires, giving a total pulling capacity of 5,928t. As well as the skidding operation for the load-out, ALE operated their barge level monitoring system.

ALE – Offshore Services’ Engineering Manager Barney Mills, who coordinated the load-out operation, commented: “This was a challenging operation as the loadout was undertaken with the vessel in a side-on position. This meant that the control and monitoring of the vessel stability during the load transfer was crucial. Quay jacks were used to ensure the vessel heel remain positive by way of monitoring calculated load on the quay. We also utilised our barge level monitoring system to constantly monitor the vessel trim, heal and deck shape in real time throughout the load-out.”