The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Moonraker sounds like a work of fiction
Sir, – With regard to decommissioning projects in the North Sea and Dundee in particular, the latest epistle (involving plans to build the Moonraker offshore heavy lift vessel) is almost fantasy
(a little like the film of the same name).
There is already a very effective single lift catamaran vessel with the same specification called Allseas Pioneering Spirit .
It has removed three installations to date and has contracts for a few more in 2019/20.
The owners Hereema and a Norwegian consortium are already planning a slightly larger vessel to handle some larger structures in the Gulf of Mexico.
Their budget is $3 billion for a four year build.
Where does Mr (Lee) Johnson get support from investors for a specialist vessel where a competitor is operational and already designing/ building a second unit – this is a very specialist market with 39 structures in the North Sea?
I suggest a smarter profitable alternative would be to partner with a Dutch/Norwegian consortium who have already done the ground work and are now a proven commodity, then figure out what Dundee can actually handle.
Callum Falconer says “it is a potential game changing solution”.
It was in 2011 when Hereema ordered the Pioneering Spirit and it took four years to build.
How does ODS intend to deliver Moonraker in two and half years when the experts needed four in a very efficient Korean shipyard?
George Sangster. Woodlands, Logie.