What Is A Liftboat?
Liftboats are the preferred vessel for most shallow water jobs in the United States Gulf of Mexico (GOM) where there are about 200 such vessels. So, outside the US-GOM, why are they virtually unknown? This article will address the overall features of a liftboat, uses, and address the questions – why have they been unknown outside the US-GOM.
A liftboat is a self-propelled, multi-purpose, self-elevating vessel. Some have referred to liftboats as jack-up barges, lift barges, jack-boats. We will examine the distinguishing features of a liftboat as compared to its closest cousin, the jack-up drilling rig. Since, a liftboat spends most of its working life out of the water, it is felt it better to address what it does during its working life. Further, lets look at how it gets to the job site.
The overall liftboat design optimizes the interrelationship of the key features, i.e., one would not desire a big deck area without a comparable deck load, etc. Looking at the liftboat, there are certain key elements to focus on (1) Legs and pads, (2) Jacking System, (3) Working Water Depth, (4) Open Deck Area, (5) Net Deck Load, (6) Crane Capacity, (7) Personnel Accommodations, (8) Propulsion and (9) Classification Considerations.
Read more about this topic: Liftboat