SSG No 10 - Shipgaz

SHIPPING AND SHIP MANAGEMENT
Lessons to be learned
in anchor handling
While struggling to set anchor # 2 for
the drilling rig Transocean Rather on
the Rosebank field, halfway between
the Shetlands and the Faroe Islands
on April 12, 2007, the supply vessel
Bourbon Dolphin capsized with the
loss of eight lives.
In the wake of the tragic loss of a modern
anchor-handling/tug/supply (AHTS) vessel
on a routine job, the Norwegian government
appointed an inquiry commission
to establish the full chain of events that
led to the calamity. The report, published
on March 28, 2008, did not point to any
specific reason for the loss, but found deficiencies
in the procedures and safety management
with all involved parties.
The rig move
The semi-submersible drilling rig Transocean
Rather was operating for Chevron
on the Rosebank field in April last year,
when five anchor-handlers were fixed for
shifting the rig from Location G to I. The
rig was owned by Transocean, a US-based
company that for the planning of the
move relied on the British consultants Tri-
dent. Because it was to be a complicated
rig move in the open North Atlantic at
a water depth of 1,100 metres, five large
anchor-handlers were contracted for the
job: Olympic Hercules, Highland Valiant,
Vidar Viking, Bourbon Dolphin and Sea
Lynx.
The rig move was controlled by a Towmaster
appointed by the operator, working
in collaboration with the Offshore Installation
Manager, the “captain” of the rig.
The operation did not proceed entirely
according to the Rig Move Plan. There
were problems in extracting the anchors at
26 SCANDINAVIAN SHIPPING GAZETTE • MAY 16, 2008
OlYMPIC SHIPPING