# Transocean Winner aground on Lewis



## Supergoods

This has been running on gCaptain since Monday morning.
Does anyone have more than press releases as some issues on towing of scrap rigs seem to exist

http://gcaptain.com/salvage-team-preparing-to-board-grounded-drilling-rig-in-scotland/

Ian


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## Supergoods

Transocean Winner refloated last night.
http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/salvors-refloat-grounded-rig-transocean-winner
Does anybody have any local insight to this incident?
It seems odd that the news came from Gcaptain and no interest from our local pundits here.
Ian


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## Lurch

Been watching this with interest.

Notable that the original towing bessel Alp Forward was not used for the float off, being anchored off Stornowaf.

Vessels involved were:

Union Princess AHT Boskalis
 Union Bear AHTS Boskalis

Forth Warrior  Multicat Briggs Marine Assisting
Forth Drummer Multicat Briggs Marine Assisting

Olymic Orion PSV offloading fuel

E R Vittoria AHTS E R Schiffart Pre laid moorings

C-Oddyssey Multicat Leask Marine

All are still on site in Broad Bay, the bill must be at a couple of million already.

Interetingly, in a Compton McKenzie way, there may be some benefits, ths Scots are starting to ask themseves why aren't they part of the solution?


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## john fraser

Lurch said:


> Been watching this with interest.
> 
> Notable that the original towing bessel Alp Forward was not used for the float off, being anchored off Stornowaf.
> 
> Vessels involved were:
> 
> Union Princess AHT Boskalis
> Union Bear AHTS Boskalis
> 
> Forth Warrior  Multicat Briggs Marine Assisting
> Forth Drummer Multicat Briggs Marine Assisting
> 
> Olymic Orion PSV offloading fuel
> 
> E R Vittoria AHTS E R Schiffart Pre laid moorings
> 
> C-Oddyssey Multicat Leask Marine
> 
> All are still on site in Broad Bay, the bill must be at a couple of million already.
> 
> Interetingly, in a Compton McKenzie way, there may be some benefits, ths Scots are starting to ask themseves why aren't they part of the solution?


They might be part of it yet as I got inside info.yesterday that she is quite badly holed


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## Lurch

If so good for them, if badly holed there is no way Noble Denton will aprove the tow, and an opportunity for Transocean to save face.


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## randcmackenzie

"Notable that the original towing bessel Alp Forward was not used for the float off, being anchored off Stornowaf."

Well Maybe, and far be it from me to talk to tugboat men, but:

Some years ago some Smit men broke away from Smit, itself a noted long range towing contractor, to form Fairmount Maritime.

Fairmount specialised in long range towing, at first using chartered Chinese tugs, and then building big new tugs in Niigata.

At some point Boskalis bought over Smit and Fairmount.

Some Fairmount men broke away and set up Alp Towing, specialising in....long range towing.

It is more than probable that Smit/Fairmount would themselves have tendered for the Transocean Winner towage contract, so there might have been some rubbing of hands and grim smiles in Fairmount/Smit/Boskalis offices when they were awarded the salvage contract.


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## Don A.Macleod

Living about 20 miles up the road from the grounding was of much interest to us locals not to mention curiosity as to what's going to happen now. It was towed past our house several miles out(too far for decent pics.) and round the Butt of Lewis. Arrived at its present location nearly 24 hours later than planned on the 24th. Noted its original tow tug the ALP FORWARD (which had been anchored in Stornoway since the mishap) went off to Rotterdam upon arrival of the rig( not wanted obviously!) 

All other vessels mentioned in the thread are in attendance. The e.r. Vittoria which has been preparing the anchorage site departed for Stonehaven to acquire more anchors and arrived back in Stornoway early this morning. Should be interesting to witness what the outcome of this will be and the cost will probably be out of this world and who will end up paying. Doubt if it will be going to Malta though!. Lewisman.


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## Julian Calvin

Have heard that South Africa insists on second tow vessel be in attendance when tow such as this goes around SA.
Are there not rules for this in Irish Sea or Dover Straits? (Not heard of any)


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## JRMacGregor

The big issue is that she was towed with no crew onboard.

So if the tow parted, there was no way for it to be reconnected, no matter how many "salvage" tugs were stationed in the vicinity - as some people are clamouring for.

I suppose if two tugs had been used/connected there would have been a lesser chance of losing the tow altogether.

Another consequence of the unmanned tow was that there was no way to ballast the unit down from transit draft when the weather got worse.


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## Supergoods

I agree that the unmanned status is a contributing factor, it seems to have become standard for rigs going to scrap.
Having no crew prevents the dropping of anchors which would have reduced the risk of going aground in case of failure.
The rig was fairly recent out of active drilling so should have had reasonable equipment unless that had already been stripped.
Another question is what, exactly, failed in the tow set up.
I had a bad experience when a kenter link shattered and it was traced back to bad steel in the link, needless to say it originated in China.
There is a lot of pressure from the underwriters surveyors to follow the voyage plan at all times, when it may have been more prudent, given the weather conditions, to modify the route to give more sea room.
All will be revealed in time.
Ian


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## Lurch

> Well Maybe, and far be it from me to talk to tugboat men, but:
> 
> Some years ago some Smit men broke away from Smit, itself a noted long range towing contractor, to form Fairmount Maritime.
> 
> Fairmount specialised in long range towing, at first using chartered Chinese tugs, and then building big new tugs in Niigata.
> 
> At some point Boskalis bought over Smit and Fairmount.
> 
> Some Fairmount men broke away and set up Alp Towing, specialising in....long range towing.


They probably will have in interesting future...

Again returning to Nigata


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## Ken Wood

The whole set up was appalling. No crew on board, only one towing vessel, unable to ballast down or drop anchors, towing on a lee shore with a well forecasted gale. The owners should be shot.
The owners are now said to be in discussions to reopen the Kishorn yard to scrap the rig. If this goes ahead then at least we will get some much needed work out of it. Possibly more in the future.


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## Lurch

Looks like Turkey is still the main choice, seems costly.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-37253990


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## louis mair

There certainly seem to be unanswered questions. Don A.Macleod asks 'who will end up paying'? The first story I heard on the radio was that she was going to Malta, no mention of scrapping. It was later added that the diesel tanks were full. They don't take them out of service with full tanks. If they were filled with diesel before leaving Norway then they were not planning to scrap her. If they were filled with seawater then the discussion goes in another direction. The BBC colonial radio service then briefly featured someone who knew their stuff. The Transocean procedures manual (The big books on a shelf that nobody ever reads) requires a Transocean rig to have a towing crew. The Transocean 2 was at the stage of towable structure, possibly not a fully commissioned rig, and she had a towing crew. The Transocean 2 is currently moored to the seabed in what subsequently became the Beryl field. The towing crew were rescued by helicopter when she mysteriously broke up. If the Transocean Winner was a sister rig then there may be practical reasons for not having a towing crew. This leaves the question of whether the European Union footed the bill for taking Transocean's scrap to Turkey? Did Transocean's insurers pay out for lost diesel oil?
It makes me glad that they don't want me back!


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## Supergoods

Louis,
My understanding is that it was always the intention to scrap in Turkey with a stop at Malta to remove agreed equipment which was reusable.
What is not known is the intended place/position of legal transfer between Transocean and the scrap yard. Lack of a towing crew is an indication that the transfer may have already taken place probably on leaving Norweigian waters.
Not, in my opinion, good practice, but nonetheless a common situation.
Some fuel in the deck tanks would be necessary to operate the cranes in Malta.
Ian


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