1. Develop towards large-scale direction.
In the process of the world's offshore oil industry moving from nearshore to open sea and from shallow water to deep water, the size specifications and weight of offshore structures continue to increase. In order to adapt to the development and changes in market demand, the new generation of main engineering ships in offshore engineering often surpass the old generation in terms of specifications and capabilities. An analysis of the specifications and capabilities of the main ocean engineering vessels currently in service and under construction, such as accommodation engineering vessels, crane/pipe laying vessels, and underwater operation vessels, reveals a clear trend towards large-scale development of the world's main engineering vessels.
2. Emphasize self navigation capability and pursue high speed.
Due to the close offshore distance of early developed offshore oil and gas fields, whether they have self navigation capability seems to have little significance for offshore oil development engineering ships. For the purpose of cost control, many enterprises tend to choose non self navigation ship design schemes when making ship construction decisions. At the same time, under the limited level of ship design and construction technology at that time, early ocean engineering ships were usually designed for safety reasons
Choosing a box type has low sailing efficiency and greatly limits sailing speed. Based on the above reasons, a considerable proportion of early construction engineering ships, especially crane/pipe laying ships and accommodation engineering ships, did not have self navigation capabilities. According to the author's statistics, 60.5% of the main engineering ships built before 1980 currently in service do not have self navigation capabilities, of which 80.3% are crane/pipe laying ships that do not have self navigation capabilities.
With the rapid development of the world's offshore oil industry, the development of offshore oil and gas fields has extended from the coast to the deep sea. The various advantages of self propelled engineering ships have gradually become prominent. World oil companies and oil engineering companies are increasingly favoring self propelled engineering ships. After entering the new era, most newly built engineering ships have self propelled capabilities. According to the author's statistics, only 22.9% of the newly constructed main engineering ships delivered worldwide between 2000 and 2013 did not have self navigation capabilities, of which 45.7% were crane/pipe laying ships without self navigation capabilities. The proportion of self navigation engineering ships has significantly increased.
The offshore distance of the world's marine oil and gas fields is gradually increasing. In order to avoid the risk factors caused by catastrophic weather and improve the safety of ships and operators, increasing the speed of engineering ships has become a common concern in the world's marine engineering industry. Oil companies hope to use high-performance engineering ships to shorten the construction cycle and production time of oil and gas field projects, and improve the economic benefits of offshore oil and gas field development; At the same time, high-speed engineering ships also provide strong guarantees for marine engineering enterprises to seize the fleeting operation window, improve ship operation efficiency and economic benefits.
On the other hand, with the development of world engineering ship design and construction technology, building high-speed engineering ships with reasonable operating costs at a reasonable cost is no longer just a dream. It is precisely under the urgent requirements of both the supply and demand sides of engineering ships and the unremitting efforts of engineering ship builders that the speed of newly built engineering ships continues to increase. The author's research has found that the average speed of main engineering ships with self propulsion capability built before 1980 that are currently in service is 9.8 knots, while the average speed of newly built main engineering ships with self propulsion capability delivered between 2000 and 2013 reaches 13.6 knots. Considering that some ships built before 1980 have increased their speed through upgrades and renovations after 1980, their original average speed should have been lower than 9.8 knots. Therefore, it can be said that the speed of main engineering ships has greatly improved over the past 30 years.
3. DP engineering ships lead the trend.
International Ship Magazine
Due to the fact that DP (Dynamic Positioning) technology was only applied to the field of engineering ships in the early 1980s, the DP engineering ships delivered before 1980 listed in Table 7 are all products of later upgrades and renovations. Since the emergence of DP engineering ships in the 1980s, due to the gradual shift of world offshore oil development from shallow water to deep water, DP engineering ships have also become a hot investment topic for world offshore engineering enterprises. During this period, the proportion of DP ships for accommodation engineering ships, crane/pipe laying ships, deepwater operation ships, and other engineering ships has been gradually increasing. Today, the world's offshore oil development is fully moving towards deep water, and the market demand for deepwater engineering ships has increased significantly. Therefore, DP ships have become the darling of the world's offshore engineering industry today.
4. Underwater workboats have become a hot investment topic.
Since the 1980s, the investment and construction of various types of main engineering ships in the world's marine engineering have been gradually increasing, but the focus of ship type development has shifted. Before the 1980s, the main engineering vessels for ocean engineering in the world were crane/pipe laying ships, with only a few accommodation engineering ships (of the 29 accommodation engineering ships built before 1980 listed in the table, about 12 were converted from barges after 1980) and other engineering ships. The number of underwater operation ships was extremely small (of the 18 underwater operation ships built before 1980 listed in the table, the vast majority were converted from multi-purpose work ships after 1980). With the development and changes in offshore oil development areas and development models, the demand for main engineering vessels in the market is also constantly changing.
In the 1980s, the world's offshore oil development shifted from shallow water to deep water, and the demand for underwater operation ships increased significantly, sparking the first wave of underwater operation ship construction. In the 1980s, there were 41 newly built and currently in service underwater work vessels, while there were only 31 newly built and currently in service crane/pipe laying vessels during the same period. Since the beginning of the new century, with the comprehensive shift of world offshore oil development from shallow water to deep water and the widespread application of underwater development models, underwater operation ships have become a strategic investment focus for world offshore oil engineering enterprises. During this period, the number of underwater operation ships built far exceeded that of other main engineering ships, accounting for nearly half of the total number of newly built main engineering ships.
The emergence and application of new technologies have had a significant and profound impact on the demand pattern of world engineering ships. The author believes that without the introduction of new engineering technologies, the annual construction quantity of crane/pipe laying ships is likely to continue to lead, but the power of new technologies has changed everything. In addition to the application of underwater technology mentioned earlier, which has driven up the market demand for underwater work vessels, the emergence and widespread application of float over and pipe rack sliding launching technology have shifted many of the previously offshore construction work to be completed onshore. At the same time, most of the major lifting operations that had to be lifted by heavy lifting vessels were also completed by barges through float over and pipe rack sliding launching technology. This has led to a sudden decline in the market demand for lifting/laying vessels, and the era of lifting/laying vessels dominating the world is coming to an end.
The curtain of the era of green engineering ships has begun.
Due to the increasing emphasis on marine environmental protection, countries around the world, especially developed countries, have already or are considering amending relevant laws to adopt stricter emission standards for engineering vessels entering their own sea areas for operations, shouting the slogan of "green engineering vessels". World oil companies and offshore oil engineering companies have responded one after another; At the same time, the demand for continuous improvement of work and living environment by offshore operators also calls for the introduction of green engineering ships with humanized design to the market. It is precisely humanity's pursuit of its own humanistic development and increasing attention to environmental protection that has pushed green engineering ships onto the stage of the times, and the curtain of the era of green engineering ships is opening.
Currently, most of the world's offshore oil engineering companies adhere to the concept of green development. The newly built engineering ships they invested in after 2010 are generally labeled as green, and high-performance new generation engineering ships are built around the "green" concept in investment decision-making and design construction stages. Green engineering ships innovate in terms of power system selection, hull shape design, environmental protection level of sewage treatment system, safety of deck equipment, comfort of the ship (low noise and low vibration, etc.), and ease of construction.
Specifically, regarding the selection of power systems, based on the widespread adoption of diesel electric propulsion systems, more high-performance gas electric propulsion systems have been further introduced, with diesel electric power, hybrid power, and LNG fuel power gradually replacing traditional power systems. Regarding the comfort of ships, intelligent energy-saving fully electric systems with low vibration and noise have become the mainstream direction for selecting propulsion systems for engineering ships. Innovative ship design concepts such as wave bow, X-BOW, Multi hull, and Cross section are widely used in the design of ship hull shapes. Regarding the convenience of shipbuilding, modular technology is widely used in
Modular design and manufacturing technology are widely used in the design and construction of engineering ships, from basic support systems such as navigation control systems, power supply systems, positioning systems, pipeline systems, to specialized operation systems such as lifting systems, pipe laying systems, ROV support systems, and saturation diving systems.
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