Semi-submersible is a special ship design. Unlike ordinary surface ships, semi-submersible ships usually have a deep draft, but they are not completely immersed in the water like submarines, but part of their hulls or structures are exposed to the water.
Semi-submersible is suitable for working on water because of its high volume ratio submerged in water, which is not easily affected by waves and can maintain good stability on the sea surface. The earliest semi-submersible ships were developed for offshore oil drilling platforms, but they also have uses including semi-submersible crane ships (SSCV), offshore support ships (OSV) and offshore production platforms.
General situation of world semi-submersible ship market
There are mainly four companies operating semi-submersible boats in the world, which are in an oligopoly state. In addition to COSCO Shipping, the other three companies are Kvis Shipping Company, Norwegian Ocean Shipping Company (OHT) and Dutch FAIRSTAR Company.
DOCKWISE Company of the Netherlands, founded in 1994, is the largest multi-purpose marine heavy transport company in the world, with 22 semi-submersible vessels of various types, with a total deadweight of 783,000 tons. Among them, 5 are dedicated to transport yachts, 6 are modified tankers (T series) and 9 are open decks, with an average age of 22 years.
Among them, 19 ships are over 20 years old, and most of them will be retired within 10 years. On June 23rd, 2006, 65438+February 23rd, Heerema(76%) and WW(24%) sold all their shares in Dockwise to 3i, a world-renowned private equity management company, at a transaction price of over 700 million dollars. 3i decided that Dockwise's management team at that time would continue to manage the company.