Change of role for ‘Buzzard’ jack-up barge

The long and varied history of the jack-up barge Buzzard is reported by UK shipbroker DSB Offshore Ltd who has brokered the vessel for numerous projects across Europe.

It shines a light on a type of craft integral to the construction of marine construction projects but with a transient life meaning they are soon forgotten once their work is finished.

Buzzard was one of three sister barges was built in the Netherlands in 1982 by De Hoop – Lobith (hull) and De Biesbosch – Dordrecht for Dutch construction specialist Ballast Needam, the 45m long, 30m wide jack-up has a payload of 1,300t and is supported by four, 55m legs.

Over the years it had a number of owners and managers including most recently and reported by DSB, Jackup GB Ltd for whom DSB was engaged for the sale.

History

Buzzard played a part in DSB Offshore’s own history who began trading just months before it entered service, DSB describing the news as “the passing of a generation of construction barges.”

During the 1990s and early 2000s Buzzard was employed as a piling barge in LNG projects including at Milford Haven in the UK but it was the early days of offshore wind farm construction and before the rapid growth of specialist Wind Turbine Installation Vessels (WTIVs) that such vessels found themselves in demand.

Among its activities and equipped with a CC2500 crane it installed piles for gravity foundations and assembled sections of the wind turbines for DEME for the C-Power Thornton Offshore Windfarm off Belgium between 2007 and 2013.

The wind farm itself was a record breaker being the largest of its kind and at 25-30km offshore the furthest offshore utilising the largest turbines of the day at 5-6MW each. With the size of turbines now typically 12MW and more it is clear why this type of activity became the work of dedicated WTIVs.

Germany’s Alfa Ventus, the first offshore wind farm in Borkum saw Buzzard install 24 pre-piles and jacked up almost to the top of its legs, installed the turbine blades.

Arguably its highest profile assignment, and one that demonstrated the innovative use of whatever tools are available by the salvage and wreck removal sector saw Buzzard involved in removal of the wrecked vehicle carrier Tricolor in 2003 in the Dover Strait.

Engaged by Smit Salvage and along with another jack-up barge it was the platform for large winches to cut the hull into nine sections and at the time the largest ever vessel to be cut into pieces in this way.

The future

DSB states that ironically, Buzzard’s sale out of the construction industry comes at a time when the industry is experiencing great demand for such units. One of the side effects of the Russia, Ukraine conflict is a boom in LNG terminal construction due to disruptions in existing gas trade routes, DMS adding that Buzzard was “designed for such work and feels particularly at home in it.”

It is “fitting” therefore that the vessel’s very last project, brokered by DSB, was for its original owner Ballast Needam on an LNG terminal in Wilhelmshaven, finishing days before it transitioned to its new owners.

DSB Offshore makes interesting observations about future for such vessels. As well as traditional roles, larger jack-ups are being put to novel uses including for pop-up port facilities, exampled by the “vintage” units Karlissa A and Karlissa B currently used as such in Mozambique.

Other roles include UXO clearance and near-shore cable-laying operations for offshore wind farms, they are even finding employment as templates for large diameter piling by modern WTIVs.

Its new group owner is reported as French oil and gas company Perenco SA with Dixstone Netherlands SA its operator and shipmanager. Under its reported new name of Buxenus it will be positioned alongside oil platforms enabling the extension of life or near-depleted wells.

Bidding farewell to a vessel that has been very much part of its own history, DSB wished Buzzard “a safe flight to West Africa and a happy migration to a new role in a new industry.”