Completion of Nord Stream 2: who will be responsible for the Akademik Chersky fiasco

July 16 2021 28

Recent ones news from the construction of SP-2: July 17, KMTUS "Akademik Chersky" returns to the "A" branch. This was reported by the German Federal Administration for Waterways and Shipping. Its task is to lay 15 km of pipes in an exceptional German economic zone in shallow water in the area of the Adlergrund bank (there the depth is not more than 22 m). "Akademik Chersky" will move towards TUB "Fortuna", which is laying its part of the route in the exclusive Danish economic zone at depths of 60 to 63 meters. At the moment, Fortuna has 59 km to go (in this figure, both the Danish and German sections of the pipe). The latter is 14,4 km, of which 2,6 km is shallow water, the Chersky will not be pulled further 2,6 km, because it is more convenient to dock the two parts of the gas pipeline at shallow depths.

What follows from this? Putin is in a hurry, the blood from the nose must have time to lay the pipe before September 26, before the day of the elections to the Bundestag. Now the weather in the Baltic has deteriorated somewhat. And although the temperature is kept in the region of 20 ℃, but with rains and thunderstorms, the wind speed is from 9 to 12 m / s, with gusts up to 16 m / s. With this wind, the laying speed decreases. The fact is that when the wind increases over 10 m / s for Chersky and over 8 m / s for Fortuna, they have to drop the pipe so as not to lead to an accident. The Swiss "Pioneering Spirit" could operate at a wind speed of 6 m / s, without dropping the pipe at all and without reducing the laying speed (its maximum speed was 4,8 km / day). It should also be borne in mind that it takes 12 hours for Chersky to lift the pipe, and almost a day for Fortuna (from the moment the hook operation starts to the start of the laying movement). In addition, the speed of laying is also significantly influenced by the height of the wave (sea agitation), I'm not talking about the depth and topography of the bottom, wind direction, course to the wave, current speed, water density and the presence of floating algae. This summer, the weather at the place of work did not work out. Locals will not remember such a frequency of storm winds on the Pomeranian seaside. If the weather conditions allowed, the “Akademik Chersky” according to its technical characteristics is capable of laying up to 3,15 km / day (with a wind speed of no more than 4 m / s), and “Fortuna” up to 1,21 km / day (with a wind no more than 3 m / s). As the wind speed increases, the paving speed naturally decreases.

But the trouble is that Akademik Chersky did not reach its design indicators, giving a maximum of 400 to 700 m / day, which is why it was replaced by Fortuna. Fortuna has been setting records for laying speed in recent days, reaching 1,3 km / day. The section in German territorial waters that Akademik Chersky would pass instead of her in 2 days, while Chersky is given almost a month. You yourself understand that not from a good life - at “Ak. Chersky "are obvious problems, but Putin is in a hurry. Even two days count.

How we got to such a life. History of the issue

As of December 21, 2019, when the Swiss company Allseas with its famous pipe-laying vessels Pioneering Spirit, Solitaire and Audacia, due to US sanctions announced by Trump, suspended its participation in the project and withdrew its vessels from the Baltic sea, on both branches of the SP-2 she had to lay 148 km of pipes out of the planned 2460 km. At the moment, out of the remaining 148 km, Fortuna's efforts have laid 63 km of the B branch, the remaining 85 km of the A branch was to be laid by Akademik Chersky. And on April 27, 2021, he started these works ("Fortuna" has been working there since December 2020). But for reasons beyond his control, "Chersky" failed. As a result, on the night of June 15, TUB "Fortuna" changed it to the "A" branch. At the time of replacement, he only had to stretch 68 km of pipe, i.e. in 49 days of work, he laid only 17 km. Crazy productivity - 350 m / day at a design paving speed of 3,15 km / day.

Considering the cost of KMTUS "Akademik Chersky", which exceeds $ 1 billion, this is a fiasco. The usual pipe-laying barge TUB "Fortuna" (although it is not ordinary at all!), Which, unlike the "academician", does not have a dynamic positioning system that allows keeping the vessel on course without using anchors, coped with the task at a lower cost, and most importantly, faster.

TUB "Fortuna"

What is Fortuna? It is an anchor barge with a 12-point positioning system for the construction of offshore subsea pipelines. Built at the Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. in Shanghai in 2010, modernized in 2011. Total displacement - 39 tons, dimensions - 989 meters in length and 169 in width, height - more than 46 m, draft - from 13,5 to 5 meters. Maximum pipe laying depth - 9 m. Crew - 200 people. The barge is equipped with a 310-anchor positioning system, with anchors weighing 12 tons. To supply electricity, Fortuna has 20 diesel generators of 4 kW each. The lifting equipment consists of a crawler crane with a lifting capacity of 2500 tons and a standard ship crane on the left side of the vessel with a lifting capacity of 250 tons.

After the modernization carried out in 2012, a crane with a lifting capacity of 1600 tons (300 tons at an outreach of 72 m) was installed on the vessel. Also on the deck, it is possible to install a standard crane with a lifting capacity of up to 2,5-3 thousand tons. About the design speed of pipe laying at 1,21 km / day (with a wind of no more than 3 m / s), I have already said above. About the disadvantages in the form of the lack of a dynamic positioning system, too. Before the appearance of "Chersky" was the flagship of the Russian pipe-laying fleet. It seems that it remains so. Owner: KVT-Rus LLC, Moscow, although before the sanctions it was part of the MRTS fleet (Mezhregiontruboprovodstroy). Previously, the port of registration was Hong Kong, now it is Arkhangelsk.

KMTUS "Academician Chersky"

The main purpose of KMTUS "Akademik Chersky" is to lay pipelines with a diameter of Ø 6 - 60 inches (outer Ø, including coating). And his story is not at all ordinary, but as if written specially for a cool spy series. The pipe-laying vessel Akademik Chersky (formerly Jascon 18) IMO: 8770261, was laid down in 2007 in China at the Jiangsu Hantong Ship Heavy Industry shipyard in Tongzhou by order of the Nigerian-Dutch company Sea Trucks Group Limited (STG). The project was developed by the Norwegian company Vik-Sandvik. The Jascon-18 is a multipurpose construction support vessel. In June 2011, Jascon-18 arrived at the Kwong-Soon shipyard in Singapore for completion. In December 2015, the vessel was purchased by the Singapore branch of the Russian company MRTS. To purchase the vessel, the company, under the guarantee of Gazprom, took out a loan from Gazprombank in the amount of USD 1 billion. In January 2016, the ship was arrested in Singapore following a lawsuit filed by a shipyard for failure to pay the full cost of construction. After the dispute was resolved, in June 2016, the vessel was transferred to the balance sheet of Gazprom Flot LLC, which renamed it to Academician Chersky (in honor of Nikolai Chersky, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences). Until August 2017, it was in the Indonesian port of Batam, then it was relocated to the Russian Federation (then the SP-2 was only at the stage of signing and the use of the "academician" in it was not planned). Initially, Gazprom-Flot intended to use KMTUS for the development of the Kirinskoye gas condensate field in the Sea of Okhotsk as an auxiliary vessel, for which it underwent modernization and retrofitting at the Nakhodka shipyard. All work was completed by May 31, 2019 and cost the customer 813,763 million rubles.

However, when the problem with the completion of SP-2 surfaced, it turned out that KMTUS “Ak. Chersky "is not suitable for solving such problems, since it does not have the necessary welding and installation equipment. And then, urgently at the end of December 2019, Gazprom Flot announces an open tender for the execution of work on the retrofitting of KMTUS with welding and technological equipment. The cost of the work was estimated at 873,5 million rubles. A tender was announced, the results of which were announced on January 30, 2020. It was won by several Western companies. Retrofitting a vessel under the sanctions is a non-trivial task, to put it mildly. Nevertheless, European manufacturers contrived to equip the "academician" with the latest equipmentby supplying the vessel with equipment worth at least $ 10 million. The Italians and the Dutch distinguished themselves. Italian company Nuova Patavium supplied pipe edge processing machines and electro-hydraulic power units for them, another Italian company Opus SRL supplied pneumatic centralizer elements for automatic pipe welding, and Dutch Vermaat Technics BV equipped the vessel with an ultra-modern computerized external orbital welding system Veraweld Torch System D. The Kremlin has cleverly bypassed US sanctions through a system of padding firms and under-invoicing. As they say, every cunning Santa Claus always has his own Macaulay Culkin (those who watched "Home Alone", they will understand). The final modernization and retrofitting of "Chersky" took place in the German port of Mukran on the island of Rugen - the logistics base of SP-2, where it arrived, having made an unprecedented three-month transoceanic passage from the port of Nakhodka across three oceans (Pacific, Indian and Atlantic) around Africa, accompanied by warships convoy with calls to all possible ports. Such a round-the-world odyssey also cost Gazprom a pretty penny. And all this just in order to then swallow dust from under the hooves of some "Fortune"?

Key Features:

Displacement (summer): 30146 t
Gross Tonnage: 29513 T
Length: 150 m
Width: 36,8 m
Depth: 15,1 m
Draft: 6,8 m
Max. speed: 12 knots
Cruising Range: 18 miles
Dynamic Positioning System: DP3
Anchor positioning system: 8 anchor
Cranes: main - SWL 1200 t (33 m) + SWL 600 t (29 m) = SWL 1800 t (27 m), auxiliary - 2 x SWL 40 t (40 m)
Crew: 379 people.

The ship is equipped with a dynamic positioning system (DP3), which controls the course and position of the vessel, activating the motors based on information from the gyrocompass, wind sensor, and target position. This eliminates the need for anchor positioning system. But at the request of Germany, for work in shallow water during the modernization, the vessel was additionally equipped with an 8-anchor positioning system.

Owner since June 2020: JSC Samara Heat and Power Property Fund (subsidiary of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz). Home port: unknown (encrypted).

I have only one question (more precisely two) - who is to blame for the failure of “Ak. Chersky ”, and who will be responsible for this failure? As it turned out, we were able to complete the SP-2 without it, mainly through the efforts of "Fortuna". Why was such an expensive banquet necessary and what went wrong?

Information

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Just a cat

0

16 July 2021 07: 56

Gazprom's "banquet" is clearly not at the expense of taxpayers from Kharkov
1. Volkonsky
  
  0
  
  16 July 2021 15: 45
  
  and whose gas does the taxpayers have in Kharkov? really Qatari ?! your destiny is only to shit under the door, for nothing more brains are not enough!
  1. Just a cat
    
    -6
    
    16 July 2021 16: 02
    
    do you demand that these taxpayers turn off the gas and deprive them of fuel? doom women, children and old people to death? what are you better than Svidomo, who cut off the water of the Crimea? NOTHING! so it's not for you to judge the brains, Ukrainian! at the head of Russia, Putin, not Taras Bulba, to engage in filthiness. Gazprom's budget is like half the budget of your Ukraine. count your pennies.
    1. Volkonsky
      
      +2
      
      16 July 2021 16: 19
      
      again, obvious problems with logic - why did Putin build the SP-2? probably to increase gas pumping through the Ukrainian GTS ?! I am better than Svidomo, because I am fighting with them and people like you, who are no different from Svidomo, only familiar. They hate all Russians, you hate all Ukrainians. Given that Putin said that we are one people.
      1. Just a cat
        
        -4
        
        16 July 2021 16: 28
        
        repeat again for the gifted? for the sake of fighting your neighbor Svidomo, are you ready to turn off the gas, electricity, water, heating throughout your Khrushchev? he is fighting ... svidomye also fought with the Crimea. I recognize the Russian, and do not vyrus who changed his nationality to a Ukrainian. Klimkin can be Russian and one with the Russian people? or should I love Jews and Poles who consider themselves Ukrainians? also one people with the Russians?
        "But what about me, because I am better than a dog ..."
        your "struggle" is reduced to arousing hatred of Russia among the remnants of the loyal population, for the arranged genocide, to the delight of Svidomo.
        
        Volkonsky
        
        +2
        
        16 July 2021 16: 45
        
        this is called sophistry - a substitution of concepts! You hate all Ukrainians, all indiscriminately, regardless of whether they are for or against the junta. At the same time, you cringe, saying that by supplying gas to us, you are stupidly making money on us, you don’t give a damn about old people or children, money doesn’t smell. I say that in war as in war - you do not need to supply diesel for the tanks of the enemy who is at war with you. The population of 404 will not be left without gas - it has its own production of 16 billion cubic meters / year - this is enough for the population not to freeze, and the money for the transit of 404 is stored for the war, so why should it pay? No need to answer! I'm sick of communicating with you. Because of people like you, I don’t want to go to Russia, I have enough of such goodness!
        
        Just a cat
        
        -2
        
        16 July 2021 16: 53
        
        fierce scribe and clinic ... gas consumption in Ukraine is higher than production ... the conversation is over. to argue with the crest, only to waste time.
        
        Volkonsky
        
        +1
        
        16 July 2021 17: 03
        
        After all, you were worried about children and old people there, I gave you the figure of your own production of 16 billion cubic meters per year, this is more than is required for the household needs of the population, there was no talk about the needs of gas for the needs of industry. I see that not only do you not know how to think, but also read. The case is clinical, medicine is powerless!
        
        Cyril
        
        -1
        
        17 July 2021 19: 38
        
        Because of people like you, I don’t want to go to Russia, I have enough of such goodness!
        
        God, what's going on ...)
    2. dub0vitsky
      
      0
      
      21 July 2021 11: 38
      
      Would you go about your original cat business? The difference is that're coming out .... s are at war with their fellow citizens, and Russia is not involved in this matter. To help the belligerent is to take part. Fight.
Bulanov

+1

16 July 2021 09: 04

and who will be responsible for this failure?

EU taxpayers will answer with their money when gas prices rise. And Russia, like the entire adequate world, is slowly turning to the East. Windmills (sorry, generators!) With Greta wandering between them will be enough for ESu ...
Sergey Latyshev

-3

16 July 2021 09: 07

Ah, Academician Chersky there, Academician Chersky here ..
A game of rhetorical questions and obvious answers.

Guy, who publicly wondered why the pipes and laying of Gazprom are exactly 4 times more expensive than laying the same pipes in Germany where?
You know it yourself.
And who steers and steers in Gazprom, too ...
1. RICH
  
  +1
  
  18 July 2021 09: 11
  
  This is all WONDERFULNESS. (Is there any evidence ?? 7 No. So shut your mouth).
  1. The comment was deleted.
123

+5

16 July 2021 09: 13

I have only one question (more precisely two) - who is to blame for the failure of “Ak. Chersky ”, and who will be responsible for this failure? As it turned out, we were able to complete the SP-2 without it, mainly through the efforts of "Fortuna". Why was such an expensive banquet necessary and what went wrong?

An interesting formulation of the question, or rather the sequence of their formulation.
Maybe for a start it is more correct like this:
1) What went wrong?
2) For what reason?
3) Is there any fault of the Gazprom employees?

In general, for a start, it's a good idea to first figure out what actually happened, and not wave a saber.
As far as I remember, the ship was re-equipped. It was not easy to do this, they imposed sanctions all around. Since such equipment cannot simply be bought at the nearest supermarket or can be quickly riveted on the knee, apparently the equipment suppliers were "alternative" and received it in a roundabout way. Perhaps this is the case. But these are all assumptions.
Tellingly, the pipeline is being completed, gas prices are breaking records, but the persistent search for failures and miscalculations of Gazprom continues.
1. Vladimir_ Voronov
  
  +4
  
  16 July 2021 11: 27
  
  Tellingly, the pipeline is being completed, gas prices are breaking records, but the persistent search for failures and miscalculations of Gazprom continues.
  
  - that's not in the eyebrow, but in the eye.
  The Manilovs cannot understand in any way that decisions on completion and timing are ACCEPTED, and not stupidly relying on CIRCUMSTANCES. V.V. Putin - a scout, but they are not former.
2. Volkonsky
  
  0
  
  16 July 2021 15: 54
  
  you, comrade 123, could have understood for a long time that I am not looking for any logs in anyone's eyes (according to my previous texts, at least), and the reasons that led to the problems with the completion of the SP-2 are also known to me, no worse than you. Moreover, I can still tell you how Gazprom bypassed the sanctions when purchasing equipment when completing KMTUS. But the fact remains - "Chersky" failed, money down the drain! Why? I do not know! According to my information, the equipment turned out to be wrong. A question for those who carried out the tender.
  1. 123
    
    +3
    
    16 July 2021 21: 03
    
    That's just the point, we do not know anything about the circumstances of the purchase of equipment, maybe they took it deliberately at the risk of running into problems. There was no choice, what kind of tender was there ...
    1. Volkonsky
      
      0
      
      16 July 2021 21: 27
      
      you do not know, I know - there was a choice! there was no time, but there was a choice! and what do you think Fortune is equipped with? why doesn’t she have any problems?
      https://www.dw.com/ru/firmy-iz-es-postavljali-oborudovanie-gazpromu/av-56934429
      1. 123
        
        +2
        
        16 July 2021 22: 25
        
        you do not know, I know - there was a choice!
        
        Why didn't you share the details?
        
        there was no time, but there was a choice!
        
        What is this choice if there is no time for it? Spoon road for dinner.
        
        and what do you think Fortune is equipped with? why doesn’t she have any problems?
        
        I have no idea, as far as I remember, they were not converted together. Maybe Chersky got the marriage.
        You are all so mysterious. You know, write something like that.
        By the way, 10 million for equipment, against the background of all the "graters" like a contract with Ukraine, Chersky's transfer from the Far East, bans, battering rams and so on, this is practically a penny. Surely, while waiting for permission from Denmark for idle time, they lost more.
        
        Volkonsky
        
        0
        
        16 July 2021 22: 47
        
        there was no time for long tenders, it was already extended for a week from 22 January to 30 January. I threw the details above - there is a video from the German wave (in Russian). The money for additional equipment is a penny, against the background of the SP-2 downtime, $ 100 million every day, as the director of Nord Stream 2 AG said
        you know that Chersky came back and moved the same distance twice, you must admit, not from a good life
        
        123
        
        +1
        
        16 July 2021 23: 33
        
        Thanks for the video, I looked Only what is the problem with the equipment from it is not clear There is more about cost and sanctions.
        That the pipe was shifting, I know, apparently the marriage turned out. But what exactly is the problem is not known.
        
        Volkonsky
        
        0
        
        16 July 2021 23: 56
        
        there is a text version of the material
        https://www.dw.com/ru/dyrjavye-sankcii-ssha-firmy-iz-evropy-oborudovali-sudno-akademik-cherskij/a-56920296
        it is easier to understand from it (it’s hard to do it by ear) how cool the equipment was supplied (I didn’t go into details in my text, I limited myself only to the price and how Putin bypassed the sanctions, splitting supplies and thus understating the invoice)
        It is strange that such equipment is not manufactured in our country (I myself am a welding engineer, therefore I am a little aware of how large-diameter pipes are welded under submerged-arc welding), really, these competencies in the Russian Federation were lost during the time after the collapse of the USSR, although there are specific features , the pipe is fed continuously and welding takes place on the ship on a special stand. Apparently, both the Italians and the Dutch are aces in this matter, I can't understand how we bought the wrong thing. I didn’t want to burden the text with unnecessary details, but laying the pipe is a task of the highest category of complexity, there at the same time teams of divers work at the bottom, who prepare the bottom for the pipe (for this they make a special trench there) and control its tightness. It was necessary to remove part of the pipe and move it because of the violation of the latter (and it is also in a concrete shell). Archi is a difficult task. When I said that the entire crew of Fortune will be presented to the state. awards, I was not joking at all. And the Hero will get someone too.
        
        123
        
        +2
        
        17 July 2021 14: 20
        
        I did not go into details in my text, I limited myself only to the price and how Putin bypassed the sanctions, splitting supplies and thus understating the invoice
        
        I doubt that he personally did this, let's at least limit ourselves to Miller
        
        It is strange that such equipment is not manufactured in our country (I myself am a welding engineer, therefore I am a little aware of how large-diameter pipes are welded under the submerged-arc), really, these competencies in the Russian Federation were also lost during the time after the collapse of the USSR, although there are some specific features , the pipe is fed continuously and welding takes place on the ship on a special stand.
        
        What's so strange about that? What surprises you? During the years of devastation, many technologies have been lost and have to be restored. If it is not used for some time, then it is lost, by the way, this happens not only with us.
        I'm not sure that we had this technology (in the sense of at the required level), otherwise foreigners probably would not be engaged in styling.
        Judging by the fact that the crew of the "Chersky" was not transferred to the "Fortuna" (after all, in theory, the vessel is more capable), the problem is precisely in the equipment. What exactly is not so incomprehensible with him. In my opinion, it is too early to draw conclusions, it is too early to hang Gazprom managers on birches.
        
        Volkonsky
        
        0
        
        17 July 2021 16: 14
        
        I doubt that he personally did this, let's at least limit ourselves to Miller smile
        
        Why do you cling to words? It is clear that Putin did not personally do this. Putin is a generalizing concept, conditional Putin, a symbol of the country
        
        it's too early to hang Gazprom managers on birches. hi
        
        and where are such appeals in my text? each mistake has its own name and its own surname, and the perpetrators must answer
alexey alexeyev_2

+2

16 July 2021 17: 03

Sorry. And where failed. They are pulling the thread very poorly. The epic with the re-equipment of the ship is also beneficial. There will be a ship. At least he doesn’t care about a mulion of sanctions. They will gain experience. And most importantly, the Europeans have to spread their minds by the winter. The bomber is like that. He doesn’t care about who’s right and who’s wrong. The warriors will freeze in a different way.
Gennady D.

0

17 July 2021 17: 49

One thing is clear, someone as part of an "organized group" (by definition of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), cut down good grandmothers, that the grandchildren will have enough, nothing can be done - we have such a system.
dub0vitsky

0

21 July 2021 11: 24
Quote: Volkonsky
and whose gas does the taxpayers have in Kharkov? really Qatari ?! your destiny is only to shit under the door, for nothing more brains are not enough!

He does not know how to search for information, think about its content.
dub0vitsky

+1

21 July 2021 11: 57

And why does no one consider the reason for such "awkward" behavior of Ak.Chersky not by the failures of the device, the crew, but by the deliberate tightening of the gasket? A sort of big carrot in front of the EU's face. Didn't they pay attention to the rise in gas prices? And what about the timing, "losses" of Gazprom from the desertion of those who signed the contract, gaskets, future penalties, when will the work be completed and the amount of losses will be finally verified? The longer the term, the more the calculator will count. We have another 4 years to transit gas through enemy territory. (Let's just call it that). A split in the EU family. Crazy attacks on the pipes of the North. Streams Ukraine, Poland, does not open the eyes of the same Germany, subsidizing the economy of these non-states? Germany has already recognized the turbines for the Crimean power generators are not quite Siemens ones. She also lifted the restrictions on the third energy package from the North. Stream-1, allowing full gas flow. She also offered North. Stream-2 is supplied with hydrogen. thus circumventing the same prohibition? She also threatened to quarrel with her partner over the lake. Merkel is a genius politician who managed to bypass all the sanctions of the Americans, and without restricting Putin in transit affairs. She said, Putin guaranteed the transit. 2024 is just around the corner. The contracts are coming to an end, Merkel's requests come to an end, Putin's guarantee comes to an end. But it will be 2025 already. Will we help nebrat go broke? Then get several billion a year down the pipe. And you will not be able to close it, and you will have to maintain the pipe purely at your own expense.