Friday, June 5, 2009
No. 1 General Information - World's Largest Ships
SUPERTANKER - KNOCK NEVIS
The Knock Nevis is a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) currently owned by the Norwegian company Fred Olsen Production. The unit was previously a supertanker and as such held the record for the world's largest ship. As a tanker the ship was known under the names Seawise Giant, Happy Giant, and Jahre Viking.
General Characteristic
| Tonnage: | 260,941GT (214,793 NT) |
| Length: | 458.45m (1,504.10ft) |
| Beam: | 68.8m (225.72ft) |
| Draft: | 29.8m (97.77ft) |
| Capacity: | 564,650DWT |
Knock Nevis was built in 1979 at Sumitomo Heavy Industries's Oppama shipyard as Seawise Giant. The ship was built for a Greek owner who was unable to take delivery of the ship.
The shipyard then exercised its right to sell the ship. A deal was brokered with Hong Kong shipping magnate C. Y. Tung founder of the shipping line Orient Overseas Container Line.
A deal was reached, but Tung required the ship's size be increased by several metres in length and 87,000 metric tons of cargo capacity by jumboisation. Two years later, the vessel was launched and named Seawise Giant.
After the refit, the ship had a capacity of 564,763 metric tons of deadweight (DWT), a length overall of 458.45metres (1,504.1ft) and a draft of 24.611metres (80.74ft). She had 46 tanks, 31,541square metres (339,500sqft) of deck space, and was too large to pass through the English Channel.
From 1979 to 2004, she was owned by the company Loki Stream AS. During this period she flew the Norwegian flag.
In this period, she was renamed Happy Giant from 1989 to 1991.
Jorden Jahre bought the ship in 1991 for the sum of US$39 Million. It was at this stage that the ship was renamed Jahre Viking. It was sold in 2004.
The ship was damaged during the Iran–Iraq War while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. As a result she was declared a total loss and laid up in Brunei. At the end of the war, she was towed to the Keppel Company shipyard in Singapore, repaired, and renamed Happy Giant. The ship was sailing again in October 1991.
In 2004, she was bought by First Olsen Tankers Pte. Ltd., renamed Knock Nevis and converted into a permanently moored storage tanker.On November 30, 2004 the conversion to FSO was completed. Since 2004, she has been owned by First Olsen Tankers Pte. Ltd. The ship is now permanently moored in the Qatar Al Shaheen oil field in the Persian Gulf, operating as an FSO.
In terms of length, Knock Nevis has a length overall of 458.45m (1,504ft), making her the largest ship ever constructed. The vessel is longer than many of the world's tallest buildings are tall, for example the Petronas Twin Towers at 452metres (1,480ft). She is smaller than the Sears Tower at 527.3 metres (1,730ft), and Taipei 101 at 509.2metres (1,671ft), and considerably smaller than the skyscraper Burj Dubai, currently under construction, at 636metres (2,090ft).
