The Singapore-flag tanker Challenge Premier, owned by NYK
Bulkships (Asia) Pte Ltd, of Singapore, was back on its
second visit last Friday.
Built at Onishi by the Shin Kurushima Dockyard Company, the
vessel has been in service since August 2005. This products
carrier is of similar size to other tankers that have been
calling here in recent times.
It is a 15-knot, 28,059gt, 45,897dwt vessel with an overall
length of 179.88m, a breadth of 32.20m and a loaded draught
of 12.022m.
Compared with the Japanese-built, Singapore-registered Knock
Nevis, reported sold last week by Oslo-listed Fred Olsen
Production to Asian interests, Challenge Premier is a mere
pup.
For Knock Nevis, which has had a rather colourful history, is
the largest ship of all time.
But the vessel was never built to hold this distinction. The
tanker was built by Sumitomo Heavy Industries' Oppama
shipyard at Yokosuka for the P. M. Nomikos-managed Atlantian
Shipping Company.
It was launched without a name on September 4, 1975, and when
completed in March 1976, delivery was declined by the Nomikos
firm.
So Sumitomo was left with this vessel on their hands, which
they laid up under the name, Oppama, awaiting a sale.
It was taken off their hands when the C.
Y.
Tung group bought it in 1979.
The new owner then decided to have the vessel lengthened and
in June 1980, it arrived at Nippon Kokan's yard at Tsu for
this work to be carried out.
In its original form the vessel was a 189,110gt, 418,600dwt
ultra-large crude carrier (ULCC).
But when it was commissioned into service in December 1979 as
the Liberian-flag Seawise Giant it had grown in size to a
238,558gt, 564.764dwt vessel having a loaded displacement of
647,955 tonnes. And the new 81m-long section added to the
hull increased the overall length to 458.45m, including
bulbous bow.
With an extreme breadth of 68.86m and a loaded draught of
24.612m, the cargo section of the double-hull ULCC was
divided into 46 tanks.
Two steam turbines, with a combined output of 50,000shp and
geared to a single screw, gave a service speed of 15.5 knots.
During the Iran-Iraq war the vessel suffered minor damage
from two attacks by Iraqi aircraft in October and December
1987. Then in a further Iraqi attack on May 14, 1988, while
transiting the Strait of Hormuz, parachute bombs seriously
damaged the vessel and claimed the lives of 40 crew members.
It was subsequently declared a constructive total loss and
towed to Brunei, where it was laid up before being taken to
Singapore, where it was repaired by the Keppel shipyard.
In 1989, it was sold to A/S Giant of Oslo and renamed Happy
Giant, and two years later Jahre Viking when bought by the
Jahre interests of Sandefjord. I notice that in 1996 the
gross tonnage had been increased to 260,941gt, which finally
brought it into line with the 1969 International Convention
of Tonnage Measurement of Ships.
Because of its size the tanker had restrictions on where it
could be employed and therefore spent most of its career as a
storage vessel.
After being bought by the Fred Olsen concern in June 2004, it
was converted at Dubai into a FSO (floating storage and
off-loading unit) through a $US22 million ($NZ31 million)
investment programme. The vessel was permanently moored at
the Qatar, Al Shaheem terminal from August 17, 2004, until
moved to the Fujairah anchorage two months ago.
Prior to its recent sale Fred Olsen had considered selling
the FSO for demolition if it failed to secure a new project.
It has been afloat now for more than 34 years and is a
reminder of an era when it was fashionable to build such
large crude carriers.
