Bisso Marine acquires legendary lay barge

DECEMBER 23, 2015 — Houston headquartered Bisso Marine has acquired the offshore pipelay industry’s well-known derrick/pipelay barge Global Iroquois.

Originally built in 1973, the 400 ft x 100 ft x 30 ft laybarge has performed pipelay operations worldwide and will be renamed Bisso Iroquois.

During the last decade, the barge has been reconfigured and received significant capacity, technology and efficiency upgrades to enable it to perform internationally in very harsh environments for long durations.

“This is a significant move for Bisso Marine, as we have been searching for some time now for the perfect asset to substantially upgrade our current pipelay capabilities,” said President and CEO of Bisso Marine, Beau Bisso. “The guys that designed and built this barge were clearly in the business of laying very big pipe, and it comes as no surprise to me to see why the barge has such a great reputation. We are very happy to have it in our fleet.”

The central part of the barge’s substantial station keeping system are the ten single drum winches with 320 kips of pulling force and 744 kip holding force each. Each single drum winch holds 5,300 ft of 2.5 inch wire rope.

The barge’s main tub mounted dynamic revolving crane has a 250 ton capacity and the deck crane is a Manitowoc 4100W Series 2.The pipe handing system is designed to handle for 40 ft pipe joints but can accommodate 60 ft joints with some modifications.

The pipe handling system can handle pipe joints weighing up to 38 tons each. Through a series of conveyors, pipe is fed into a fully enclosed ready rack, line up station and firing line. The firing line features eight work stations, four of which are dedicated to welding.

The barge is configured with two 220 kip SAS tension machines with a total capacity of 440 kips of tension. The tensioners can pass an 84 inch maximum diameter. To accompany the two SAS tensioners, is a 440 kip capacity (on a full drum) SAS abandonment and recovery (A&R) winch capable of holding 5,000 ft of 3.5 inch wire rope. The barge is also outfitted with six 75 ton davits.

The primary stinger system is a two section 180 foot gantry supported rigid truss. An alternative floating “Alpha” pontoon stinger system is also available. The 300 foot Alpha stinger is composed of five 60 foot sections.

The Bisso Iroquois can accommodate 256 persons and features a large galley and dining area, a large theater, several conference rooms, ample client office space, a gym and a three bed hospital.

The below deck machinery space houses all ten mooring winches, three main generators providing 7,875 kW of electrical power, 1,200 gallons per hour water making, substantial capacity for fuel, warehousing and dry stores. The barge is boasts significant on-board machining and milling capabilities.

The barge was most recently working in offshore Brazil laying numerous pipelines up to 34 inch diameter with heavy concrete coatings in water depths ranging from 20 feet to 300 feet. Most notably the barge has an impressive track record of laying very large and heavy concrete coated pipe up to 55.5 inches in total diameter as well as laying 30 inch concrete coated pipe in approximately 800 feet of water.