SMIT’S heavy lifting crane barge Asian Hercules II is seen here at the Huisman yard in Rotterdam on 18 April, installing a pipe laying ramp on deep sea pipe layer CSO Deep Blue. The ramp, weighing 1,100t, was lifted from its supports on the quayside, rotated 90° and installed on the pipelayer. Asian Hercules II, which has a maximum rated capacity of 1,800t, then visited northeast England for three days to perform heavy lifts at McNulty Offshore’s South Shields yard where the Bleo Holm floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is being converted for a new life offshore. Hoisted in was a 621t water injection module, a 192t gas compression module and a 173t produced water module.
