Thialf

Thialf

IMO : 8757740

Build : 1985 by Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. -Tokyo in Japan, nr ?? as McDermott Derrick Barge No.102

This vessel truelly is a Monster of the Sea, not only in size but also in looks! She is a so-called SSCV, a Sub Sea Construction Semi-Submersible Crane Vessel, used to place hugh platforms on their jackets in the middle of whatever ocean you want it to. and, Damn! is she hugh or what? For comparison, please see below picture with a not quite unsubstantial tug in front of her (and probably making fast to start towing).

If you wouldn’t know better you’d say that this looks like a giant sea-creature which is trying to gobble that little unsuspecting tug in one big mouth full!

Some dry figures: length: 201.6 m, width:88.4 m, draft (during sailing): 12.6 m, draft (during construction): 27-31 m. Accommodation for abt 750 persons, the tips of the cranes, in the highest position, are abt 144m above the deck. These cranes can lift 7.100 metric tons each…..so combined she can lift 14.200 tons of offshore stuff. Quite a bit more than your average car.

And to top it off: her looks are definitely not the prettiest in the world. But then you have to wonder whether a vessel this big and with these capacities is actually able to not look ugly……….

The name Thialf is a different spelling of Thialfi, the Trusty rustic servant of Thor.

She got 2 smaller sisters: the Balder & the Hermod, see pics below.

Hermod (IMO 7710214)

Balder (IMO 7710226)

Picture by J. Berghuis via Flickr

btw: in the right hand corner you see the tug Union Manta, one of the nicest vessels I had the pleasure of sailing on.