Verdi goes to Kazakhstan

December 2009 – Within four months, the hull of an inland ship was transformed into the offshore accommodation ship “Verdi” for 320 people. Some of the accommodation was built in the hold; the modules with the cabins are located on deck. The ship is now moored in the Caspian Sea, where it provides shelter for the workforce from an oil platform. De Boer Staal supplied steel plating and Holland profiles, Grade A ship quality, for this vessel.

Because of the short turnaround time of four months, Shipyard De Hoop in Lobith saved time by purchasing an inland shipping hull from which the aftship had been removed. Some of the accommodation was built in two decks in the hold. This included the mess, the kitchen, storage rooms, a fitness room, a laundry and a few meeting rooms. Two-storey modules have been positioned on the deck, containing a total of eighty four-man cabins with bathrooms. It can get very cold in Kazakhstan, with temperatures dropping to -30˚C and so the accommodation ship and the lines were given extra insulation.

Because the ships with the modules were too high to be transported along the Danube, cargo ships were used to take the modules to Constanta, a Romanian port on the Black Sea. Here, the modules were unloaded and the ship was taken on to the Caspian Sea. The ship has now been moored alongside a reclaimed island on which an oil platform is located. The “Verdi” accommodates workers from the Kashagan oilfield.