Picture of the Day
Here's something. It is the Stim Star Brasil, one of what are known in the business as "FRAC Boats", this one obviously owned by Edison Chouest, and operating in Brazilian waters. For those who might not know, this is one of a class of vessels which are used for well stimulation. Rather than the whole insides of the planet being sucked out through pipes at oil wells, hydrocarbons are in fact filtering though the substrata and over time the filtering becomes less successful and so, in order to improve the flow, chemicals of one sort or another are pumped down the well at very high pressure. In Imperial measurement 15,000 psi is commonly used if there is pipework capable of withstanding it.
Here is the Boldwind, an interesting vessel recently constructed to service the offshore wind industry. It is apparently one of two. It looks very like a submersible heavy lift ship but is not one. This may be because someone suddenly realise that the heavy lift ship could be used for transporting very large, non-heavy lift items for the wind industry, some of them being fitted with very large cranes in order for them to be able to actually install the objects being carried. The Boldwind does not have a crane, but if it is fitted with full DP3 it might get one.
Lets say straight away that at least one of those sites which tell you exactly where ships are and what they are doing, they describe the VOS Mull as being "Dead". But it is a bit more interesting than that, in fact it was built, by the look of it, to an American design in 1980 and before departing for the breakers it had had half a dozen names. It might have gone on in 2011, this photo being taken in 2009, and it seemed to me that it is a bit memorable because in addition to the Mull on Point Law there are enormous ships to the right and left of it, including one of the Maersk A Class in the River Dee, just the funnel showing.