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Rescue of a Norwegian military frigate near Bergen!

13.03.2019
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Rescue of a Norwegian military frigate near Bergen!

Herbosch-Kiere, a Belgian subsidiary of Eiffage specialised in the realization of maritime projects, via its subsidiary Scaldis and in collaboration with BOA Offshore refurbished the Norwegian frigate «KNM Helge Ingstad» on 3 March.
A revolutionary refloating method was created specifically for this project by combining the two heavy lifting vessels Rambiz and Gulliver belonging to Scaldis.

On November 8, the Norwegian frigate collided with an oil tanker in the vicinity of Bergen and sank on the steep slope of a fjord. The Norwegian navy called upon the expertise of Scaldis, the streams of Herbosch-Kiere, Jan De Nul Group and DEME, to recover the wreck.

A "Double Duo Lift" hoisting method was developed by combining the two heavy lifting vessels "Rambiz", equipped with two cranes with a total lifting capacity of 3300 tonnes, and the new lifting vessel "Gulliver", also equipped with two cranes and a total lifting capacity of 4000 tons. Thanks to this method, the total combined lifting capacity is 7300 tons.

This enabled the frigate to be raised 133 meters long and 5,500 meters in one piece. Since all four cranes operate synchronously, the wreckage can be refloated in a single uninterrupted operation and brought to a horizontal position.
This rescue lasted a week and mobilized a hundred people.

During the winter months, the divers installed 16 lifting chains under the wreckage to get the vessel out of the water. In order to safely remove the frigate from the water in its entirety, it was hooked to the hooks of the cranes of the high-capacity lifting vessels, and transported to the nearest port, to be placed on a submersible pontoon. The partially submerged pontoon ballasts were then emptied back to the surface. During this operation, the cranes stabilized the vessel until all naval equipment was deployed to transport the frigate.