Meet The Boka Vanguard, A Semi-submersible Heavy-lift Ship That Carries Other Ships, Oil Rigs (PHOTOS)

Meet the Boka Vanguard, a semi-submersible heavy-lift vessels that is deployed to carry other ships, oil rigs.

Boka Vanguard is the largest vessel of her type ever built, and is able to carry cargoes up to 117,000 tonnes.

Due to her ‘bowless’ design, her loads are accommodated on an open-end deck space of 275 metres by 70 metres.

Boka Vanguard and sister ship Blue Marlin are parts of 11 fleets of semi-submersible heavy-lift ships operated by Boskalis.

Dockwise Shipping (now Boskalis) of the Netherlands operates the largest fleet of specialized semi-submersible heavy transport vessels in the world. The vessels have excellent stability and seagoing characteristics.

These fleets, which include the Boka Vanguard, Blue Marlin, White Marlin and the Black Marlin, are used in a number of specific offshore roles, including to transport offshore drilling rigs, oil production platforms, floating production, storage and other exceptionally heavy cargoes.

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But the biggest of its 11 fleets is the state-of-the-art Boka Vanguard, which has a load capacity of 117,000 tones. Due to her ‘bowless’ design, her loads are accommodated on an open-end deck space of 275 metres by 70 metres.

Dockwise Vanguard deck’s is 70% larger than the MV Blue Marlin, the third-largest heavy-lift ship. Being able to is submerge allows her to lift ships or rigs out of the water, and to place them into water.

When her ballast tanks are flooded, her deck lies up to 16 m (52 ft) below the surface, allowing her to handle deep-draught cargoes. Loads can then be floated above her, and her ballast tanks empty, allowing her to lift and transport cargoes up to 117,000 tonnes, 50% more than the Blue Marlin.

The Boskalis-owned Boka Vanguard was built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2012 at the costs of US$240 million. Until 2018, it was known as Dockwise Vanguard. The vessel entered service in February 2013.

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