BV Greece has worked with Greece’s Springfield Shipping, part of the Onassis group, and Oman Drydock Co. to complete the first of five planned major conversions to turn Very Large Ore Oil Carriers into pure tanker VLCCs.
The conversion of the 319,000 dwt, 2011-built Olympic Leopard focused on the centre cargo holds which have been converted from dual dry/wet holds to pure cargo oil tanks, transforming the vessel into a conventional VLCC, ensuring more favorable treatment during potential charterer’s vetting.
The conversion entailed complete removal of hatch covers, hatch coaming and five deck cranes, fitting of new main deck plating longitudinally stiffened in way of the entire cargo length to cover the removed hatch covers and cross deck plating, and fitting five new swash bulkheads, one in the middle of each centre tank.
BV Greece reviewed the design documentation and supervised the conversion. The Hellenic Plan Approval Office (HPO) performed a finite element analysis of the hull structure using the BV VeriSTAR Hull software. Highly stressed areas were identified and fine mesh models were produced in order to define, in cooperation with the designers, the best solution for the structural integrity of the vessels.
A sloshing analysis according to BV Rules verified that the new tanks could be loaded slack without any restrictions, offering a competitive advantage to the operators.
Source: Bureau Veritas
