Size does matter folks, at least it matters when it comes to ships and other marine vehicles. We all know that cargo ships are the best choice if you are planning to move stuff around the globe, however, there may come a time when a ship needs to be shipped or oil rigs need to be moved. So what do you do in this case? Well, let us tell you, don’t panic and call Blue Marlin!
The MV Blue Marlin is capable of shipping ships, has already shipped a huge oil rig and even gantry cranes have been transported by using this ship. What you’re looking at is a 217 meters long, semi-submersible heavy lift ship that has a weight of 56,000 metric tons (dead weight). The engine delivers an output of 12,640 kW which is quite understandable when you look at the sheer size of this thing and what it carries.
Semi-Submerging ships are usually called flo/flo that is short for float-on/float-off; they come equipped with long and low ell deck that allows the floating vessels and rigs to be picked up out of water once the ship is underneath them. The ship, subsequently, rises lifting the cargo off the sea and is ready for transportation.
Blue Martin was created by Offshore Heavy Transport of Oslo, Norway back in 1999 and they owned this particular ship along with its sister ship; Black Marlin till 2001 when they both were sold to Dockwise Shipping of the Netherlands. As of now, the company is busy in construction of Vanguard – a ship with 50% more lifting capacity (110,000 tons) and deck area that is 70% greater than the Blue Marlin.