ALE in Vietnam milestone

Vietnam's first jack-up rig has been loaded out and floated off to sea by heavy transport and lifting company ALE.

The load out and float off of the 9,020 tonne drilling rig was in Vung Tau, Vietnam. Watching closely and monitoring the project were government officials, including the prime minister.

ALE's scope of work included the design and engineering for skid beams and skid shoes, load out equipment, including strand jacks and external ballast system, and a semi submersible barge and main tug.

The project was completed by skidding the rig to the quayside using ALE's skid system. For the load out onto the barge an external ballast system and equipment including strand jacks were used. The semi-submersible barge transported the rig to its required float-off location where the barge was submerged to allow the float-off. All marine engineering required was carried out by ALE's specialist marine engineering division.

Russ Jones, ALE project manager, said, "We are pleased to have completed this project as it is the first Vietnamese fabricated jack-up rig to be installed offshore in Vietnam. The project was closely watched by senior officials. This project also combined the expertise of three ALE divisions, the ALE engineers alongside engineers from our specialist ALE marine engineering division, ALE-Offshore Services."