In October 2018, our anchor handling tug supply vessel ("AHTS") POSH Defender supported the complex transportation of topside and boat-landing from the Ocean Might Yard in Kuching, Malaysia, to the D28 oil field approximately 172 nautical miles off Kuching, marking one of the biggest loadouts of its kind in our industry.
The project tested the mettle of our crew and we executed the project successfully, supporting our clients' business needs.
One unique aspect of the loadout was the sheer weight involved. The total weight of the deck cargo loaded onboard was 446 metric tonnes ("MT"), a heavier than usual load.
The topside and grillage were loaded onto the extreme left of the vessel, which was required to hold dynamic positioning ("DP") approximately two metres from the installation during the offloading of the topside. To ensure that POSH Defender was up to the task, we had to carefully manage the stability calculations involved with the loading of such a massive weight, while taking into consideration the sheer size of the topside.
The concerns were that the heavy load at the extreme ends of POSH Defender might lead to high bending stresses mid-ship. Based on the stability calculations, POSH had to ensure all stability criteria and bending moments for loadout and transportation were within the permissible limits. We refined this multiple times with our client for more than a month to ensure full compliance with International Maritime Organisation Class & Marine Warranty Surveying ("MWS") requirements.
Besides weight and size considerations, we also had to abide by five different inspections - Offshore Vessel Inspection Database ("OVID"), Offshore Support Vessel Inspection System ("OSVIS"), MWS, 2H Offshore and PETRONAS - for the release of the Green Letter to close the punch list.
Managing this massive project seamlessly, safely and completing it on schedule without issue was a major achievement by the team. This speaks to our operational excellence, high standards of service and safety as well as steadfast reliability which we always strive to achieve.
POSH announced its entry into the Taiwan offshore renewables sector in July, through a joint venture with Kerry TJ Logistics ("Kerry TJ"). This joint venture aims to provide a one-stop solutions platform for offshore wind farm developers, EPCI contractors and wind turbine manufacturers.
Within its first month, the joint venture, named POSH Kerry Renewables ("POSH Kerry"), won its first contract. It will provide anchor handling, supply and standby support for an international geotechnical services operator during the site survey, installation and construction of an offshore wind farm. Work has since commenced off the coast of Guanyin, and may potentially include other sites in Yunlin and Taoyuan-HsinChu.
POSH Kerry also secured Rolls-Royce, Macquarie Capital and Swancor as strategic partners to jointly explore collaboration opportunities and develop tailored solutions for this growing sector. POSH Kerry will also be working with Seagreen Enterprise, Taiwan-based marine and towage operator, to recruit, train and build up a pipeline of Taiwanese crew.
This is the first time that two major players in their respective fields have integrated supply chain and marine solutions on a single platform that can support the entire offshore renewables project life cycle. POSH brings specialised offshore marine expertise and a modern fleet of vessels readily transferable to offshore wind operations, while Kerry TJ - as Taiwan's largest logistics provider - has an extensive local network and in-depth market knowledge to help clients navigate the local operating landscape.
We are confident that POSH Kerry's comprehensive suite of services will be an accretive and complementary addition to the POSH Group's portfolio, and will work hard to deliver results for our clients and partners.
As a testament to the trust our clients have placed in us, semi-submersible accommodation vessel ("SSAV") POSH Xanadu was awarded a second charter with oil and gas major Petrobras.
The 750-pax POSH Xanadu will be supporting Petrobras' production activities in the Campos Basin, right after she completes her current job at the Chevron Big Foot Tension Leg Platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The firm contract with Petrobras is for eight months, with an option for an additional eight-month extension.
This is the second charter POSH Xanadu has won from Petrobras, having supported the company between 2015 and 2016, also in the Campos Basin. During that time, she received many accolades including achieving zero lost-time injury and close to 100% gangway connectivity, even in the face of harsh conditions at sea. POSH Xanadu has been maintaining the same operational records for the Chevron project as well.
Together with her sister vessel POSH Arcadia, our two state-of-the-art DP3 SSAVs are the world's largest of their class. Designed for deep waters and harsh operating environments, they are equipped with industry-leading safety and comfort features, enabling "walk-to-work" solutions for offshore personnel. These include ample deck space for work, quality accommodation, catering and recreational facilities, as well as connectivity through video conferencing capabilities and WiFi on board.
Petrobras awarding this contract to POSH for a second time is truly a testament to our differentiated operational expertise, high standards of service and safety, and steadfast reliability. This will also further cement POSH's operational footprint in the Americas.
Two of our vessels, the POSH Elegance and POSH Commander, were recently chartered to Brunei as the South East Asian country started to see an uptick in activity.
POSH Elegance, the Multi-Purpose Supply Vessel ("MPSV") from our Offshore Accommodation ("OA") division, has been providing accommodation support and walk-to-work solutions for front-end engineering design contractor Amec Foster Wheeler since May 2018, with an expected charter duration of more than 200 days. Amec Foster Wheeler was awarded a contract by Brunei Shell Petroleum Sdn Bhd for the rejuvenation of assets in Brunei which will run for at least five years from March 2017; and POSH Elegance is equipped with a motion-compensated gangway and crane to support the scope of work.
Meanwhile, our 2,00TBP Anchor Handling Tug Supply ("AHTS") POSH Commander from the Offshore Support Vessel ("OSV") division has been chartered to support the Rapong Exploration Drilling Campaign at Block A, offshore Brunei. The charter includes anchor handling duties for the ultra-deepwater semi-submersible offshore drilling rig Deepwater Nautilus and commencing July 2018 and expected to end in Q1 2019.
These various charters are built on previous projects that we executed, including anchor handling duties for the jack-up rig "West Castor" in 2014 and supporting coil tubing unit operations from March 2015 to September 2016.
Moving forward, POSH will build upon its track record and established reputation to continue pursuing opportunities in this key growth market.
In January this year, POSH was engaged by China Oilfield Services Limited (COSL) to carry out harbour towage & float on-off operations within the Singapore Harbour. The towage involved two jack-up rigs, COSL Boss and COSL Seeker, which were reactivated from cold stack in Labuan, Malaysia for the preparation in Singapore shipyards prior to their respective forward charters.
As part of the engagement, POSH Terasea was awarded the contract for ocean towage of COSL Boss from Malaysia to Singapore before our Harbour Services Division took over. Four 4,000BHP harbour tugs, namely POSH Guardian, POSH Gentle, POSH Grace, and PW Berani, were used to transport COSL Boss within the Singapore harbour to Keppel FELS shipyard.
Just a month after the COSL BOSS project, COSL awarded another contract to POSH. This time, four harbour tugs were called to tow the COSL Seeker from Singapore anchorage to Sembcorp Marine Shipyard at Tuas Boulevard. Of the four harbour tugs involved, two were 5,000BHP (POSH Husky and POSH Hardy) while the other two were 4,000BHP (PW Benar and PW Berani).
These two projects challenged us in many ways due to their tight schedules. In particular, the COSL Seeker operation required absolute precision and perfect coordination between our harbour tugs and the tow master to prevent any collision between the jack-up rig and the heavy lift vessel's deck structure. By working closely with COSL, the Tow Masters, as well as the Marine Warranty Surveyor, both projects were swiftly and safely completed.
Earlier this year, POSH was appointed as the heavy lift services provider for the construction of a container terminal in the Port of Thilawa to meet the ever-growing demand at one of Myanmar's key logistics hubs. To start off, the 3,600 BHP PW Lambda was used to tow the floating sheerleg crane PW L501 to and from Myanmar to support the installation of 20 steel jetty platform modules, each weighing approximately 200 tonnes, onto pilings located near the shore.
Preparation for this project began five months ahead of the commencement date. Despite high scrutiny and time pressure from the main contractor, Toyo Construction, our team exceeded expectations and completed the project three weeks earlier than planned.
The professionalism and teamwork POSH demonstrated during these projects underline our commitment to service excellence. We are also pleased to be able to offer solutions across our diversified service portfolio, thereby providing a one-stop shop for our clients.
As an international offshore marine service provider, we seek to make a difference to the local community wherever we operate.
Earlier this year, POSH embarked on several initiatives and campaigns to build and train a local pipeline of maritime talent in Saudi Arabia. Our efforts reflect our strong commitment to Saudi Aramco's in-Kingdom Total Value Add ("IKTVA") Program, which is a nation-wide initiative to increase localisation levels across key industries.
The shortage of local maritime talent in Saudi Arabia can be attributed to the lack of knowledge about the industry. To tackle this issue, POSH Saudi introduced several outreach programmes in partnership with local institutions, including the National Marine Academy ("NMA") in order to raise awareness about the industry amongst the locals. Under this partnership, POSH personnel would be invited as speakers to share insights on the offshore marine business as well as the career opportunities with POSH Saudi.
A Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between POSH Saudi and King Abdul Aziz University to launch an exchange programme. Through this programme, POSH crew will be granted the opportunity to attend maritime-related courses with the university during their off-hire season. Students from the university, in turn, are granted opportunities for shipboard attachment on board POSH vessels, and suitable candidates will be assessed for employment opportunities with POSH at the end of the programme.
In response to a corporate video launched on social media, we also received interest from several members of the public to explore employment with POSH. Check out our corporate video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRjIYR1xUW0
We strongly believe that human capital is the key to an organisation's success. By recruiting and developing locals, POSH aims to nurture a pool of highly qualified crew members to handle our vessels in Saudi Arabia. This would not only simplify the logistical process of crew changes, but also ensure that we continue to provide quality service for our clients.
