Pieter Schelte will be capable of single-lifting topsides up to 48,000te and jackets up to 25,000te. Topsides will be lifted from a 122m long, 52m wide slot at the bow using eight sets of horizontal lifting beams, four on each side of the slot, equipped with friction clamps. Two tilting lift beams at the vessel's stern will be used for the installation or removal of jackets, and for regular crane lifts.
The vessel will also serve as a pipelayer, with S-lay tension capacity up to 2000te (4 x 500te tensioners) for installing record-weight pipe up to 68inOD (including coating) in deep or shallow water. The firing line is located along the vessel's centre line under the main deck to keep the deck free of obstructions and available for storing 12m pipe sections or, when not in pipelay mode, platform components, foundation piles and the like. The 170m long stinger, suspended in the slot at the bow, can be removed and stored on a cargo barge when not required.
The vessel will be equipped with eight main diesel generators providing total installed power of 95MW, driving 12 azimuth thrusters for dynamic positioning (DP3) and for propulsion. There is accommodation for 570 people in two-berth cabins.
Model basin testing at Marin indicated wave response behaviour superior to semisubmersible crane vessels in operational wave conditions topsides and jackets can be installed or removed in significant wave heights of up to 3.5m. For a vessel its size and shape, Pieter Schelte will boast pretty useful transit speeds. The wave basin speed tests indicated a maximum speed of 14.5 knots in calm seas, but Edward Heerema is quick to concede that will rarely be achieved. You never have a fully calm sea you have currents and you have wind, and you also have marine growth on the ship that slows you down noticeably. Talk by other vessel owners of very high average speeds is naive, just commercial hype.
The vessel will carry light ice class, model tests in Hamburg's specialist ice basin having confirmed its ability to operate for extended periods in the polar regions, until ice builds up too heavily.
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