Building A Submersible Ship To Transport 20 Mega Yachts | Huge Moves | Spark

a flotilla of luxury yachts worth over 160 million dollars this call we will have 22 yards on board can a team move the precious cargo 8 000 kilometers without a single scratch there was just a really loud uh racing to secure the yachts the movers must battle against a rising swell this little movement is annoying for the for the job itself the owners are anxious some sailors like harrowing experiences the hurricane lose i don't want to be out here in a hundred foot waves i don't think anybody else does either an epic move across a raging atlantic one fleet of millionaires mega yachts one team with a mission to move [Applause] a titanic task that will test the nerves of the people who dare to do monster moves monaco a high rollers haven on europe's mediterranean coast [Music] the city is home to one of the world's most renowned grand prix circuits but the principalities relaxed tax laws are its main draw some of the wealthiest people in the world live here enjoying the lifestyle of the rich and [Music] famous jack sternley was one of america's most famous heart surgeons who retired in 2001 for the past year he's been sailing these waters with his fiancee kathy after performing 6 000 heart operations i felt that i knew pretty much everything that there is to know at this time about heart surgery and doing another 6 000 didn't seem as exciting as the first six thousand i decided to retire and become a captain and really live life to its fullest and i've been doing that with kathy now for seven years but jack did not sit idle he channeled a portion of his fortune into building his dream yacht the star sapphire to sail around the mediterranean i couldn't travel much when i was a heart surgeon because i was always on call so we always had to stay within beeper range but now i i can go anywhere i want now that winter looms he wants to move his yacht to the warmer waters of florida the next trip once we get the boat to florida is we'll concentrate along the florida coast the diving in those areas is spectacular quite different than cruising the med jack loves his yacht so his major concern is how to guarantee its safe passage across the 8 000 kilometers of perilous ocean that lies between monaco and florida jack leaves nothing to chance he even designed the star sapphire himself we only made some minor changes uh with this from here the architect then did the plans for the boat and we used this throughout construction to make sure it still retained its look the sapphire was built in turkey and was launched in the summer of 2007 at a total cost of 10 million dollars the yacht is a massive 35 meter long floating palace it has six bedrooms nine bathrooms two bars a jacuzzi a gym and even a garage that houses a smaller motorboat the vessel weighs almost 200 tons and has a top speed of 19 knots [Music] the yacht's fiberglass body is tough but is only designed for sailing in calm waters a raging atlantic storm could easily sink jack's pride and joy on route to florida some sailors like harrowing experiences near death and sinking and crashes and problems with engines and this and that i like it smooth so jack wants to find a safer way of taking his yacht to florida he visits the monaco boat show for ideas well we wanted to uh transport the boat uh from europe to florida and so we're looking for a transport company one person familiar with the dangers of taking yachts across the atlantic at this time of year is maritime mover tikka sprenger we're talking about millions and millions of us dollars which i'm responsible for i have to make sure all goes well tika explores jack's options for a safe passage to florida one way would be to transport your yacht on an airplane you know those big freighters you've probably seen them in from the army they open up their nose and you put the cargo inside the quickest way to get the yacht to florida would be by air this is the russian antonov an2 the largest aircraft in the world it's big enough to swallow the fuselage of another plane special ramps and winches haul the cargo into place but incredibly jack's mega yacht may be too big for even this aircraft to swallow hole you might have to dismantle your moss your keel and the mega yachts we're transporting you basically have to dismantle everything another way would be transported on a freighter but think about this when you're lifting your yacht on a few swings hanging meters and meters above the water anything can happen it's quite risky [Music] craning yachts using straps can be difficult and dangerous loading these yachts in southampton england onto a ship bound for italy europe is a heart-stopping experience for yacht owners the smallest gust of wind could send the vessel careering into the ship's side so maneuvering the yachts must be carried out with extreme caution this approach is too risky for jack who hates the thought of damage to his beloved yacht instead of those options we're gonna use a semi-submersible yacht carrier to transport the yachts across the ocean this semi-submersible vessel offers a unique taxi service for yachts of the super rich well this year is a special year for us because it's the first year actually that we have our new ship the aliexpress in service it's 685 feet long and that's that's new it's the only ship in the world uh that does that the yacht express is over 200 meters long weighs nearly 000 tons and has an extraordinary design feature unlike any other ocean-going ship this vessel can submerge on command [Music] inside its hull are 24 huge ballast tanks these fill with over 9 million gallons of water to submerge the ship just like a submarine this allows the loading team to sail the luxury yachts right into the cargo hold the big question will there be enough space left for jack's palatial yacht the ship is already booked to carry 21 yachts from genoa italy to the united states this farm yes from genoa to port everglades in florida jack offers to pay a hundred and thirty thousand dollars if doc wise can squeeze the star sapphire on board you have a deal i think we have a deal thank you thank you so much the company agrees to take jack's yacht but with the transporter ship about to leave genoa and the star sapphire 140 kilometers away in monaco jack must move fast to reach the ship in time in genoa italy tikka's team prepares the submersible ship to load the flotilla of mega yachts for their 8 000 kilometer voyage to florida it will be the most valuable cargo the crew has ever loaded this car we will have 22 yachts on board we have a few mega yachts small tenders and the overall value of the whole cargo is about 160 million us dollars fitting all 22 vessels onto the ship's deck will be a complex jigsaw with each piece worth millions of dollars [Music] if tikka packs them in too tightly they may bang into each other but if she leaves too much space they won't fit on board another problem makes this puzzle even more difficult tica must distribute the weight of the odds evenly across the deck if there's too much weight either end it could cause catastrophic loading stress in high seas the team used computer models to work out the optimum arrangement for the yachts on deck it's vital that each yacht owner supplies detailed architectural plans of their vessel to ensure that each piece of this jigsaw fits [Music] tika knows that this load will be particularly tight this is what the dog will basically look like you see all the yards are in there the star sapphire is right here when we load this yacht we see it will be on in between the frame 43 and 44 we know that it should sit exactly like this docking plane [Music] meanwhile in monaco jack prepares the star sapphire for its epic voyage they have very little time first he must sail the yacht round to genoa to meet the loading deadline the ship is due to depart for florida in just two days time jack's so nervous about his yacht that he's sending his captain peter charles to accompany it on the atlantic crossing [Music] they remove all breakables and protect the king-sized jacuzzi with plastic you know a little bit here on each one of these yeah and fit it over and then tape it all with the white tape peter leaves the crew to tape up and prepares to set sail this is the pilot house where we've got full computerized instrumentation for all the boats of navigation and control surfaces normally we just stick it in autopilot and with the course we're on and keep track of everything try not to hit anybody [Music] sheep [Music] in genoa tikka's team prepares the ship's deck for loading that one not yet and this one in the back so i want you uh to wait preparing this one this one this one supporting the angular hulls on the ship's flat deck poses unique challenges [Music] once the ship is submerged the crew can sail each yacht into its allotted position [Music] the water from the ballast tanks is blasted out to leave the luxury yachts high and dry on the deck [Music] however once the water has drained out the yacht's propellers rudders and keels become vulnerable to damage to guard against this the crew must custom build cradles to support the hull of each unique vessel they're not exactly the same underneath what's below of course you have if you have the keel sometimes you have some protrusions like a transducer speed lock inlets which stick out below the heel stabilizers which may be lower than the keel the ship's deck will be crammed with yachts so the crew has their work cut out to complete the 22 hull cradles before flooding the deck with each yacht parking space precisely marked out they carefully position wooden blocks each must be perfectly aligned to cradle the unique hull shapes if the protrusions hit a block you have a lot of force on that point be talking about damage damaging the arch once the cradles are in place tikka can begin to load the yachts her first task is to submerge the vessel flooding the deck the ship is very big i only have two eyes i can't be there at every point so i need your eyes for me this is a critical moment for the crew who remain on board to monitor the ship's controlled sinking this whole area will be underwater so you can imagine you lose a lot of buoyancy by this being underwater the vessel becomes less stable as the ship submerges the large volume of sea water rocking from side to side poses a threat to the vessel's stability if it's allowed to get out of control the ship can sink to guard against this the ship's hull is fitted with two giant supports called spot holes must lower these poles from inside the ship to anchor it firmly to the seabed only then can she safely submerge the vessel without losing control you see that's pitfall over there we're gonna lower that spit down lower the spot okay this spits down now that the ship is firmly anchored the flooding can begin when fully flooded the 24 ballast tanks lining the ship's hull hold over 9 million gallons of water as the ship sinks water gradually floods onto the deck on the bridge the captain monitors the flow of water to the tanks on each side to ensure the ship submerges evenly i see that vessel should be upright all the time not least we are continuously watching the dream in the vessel requested for the law from the loading master the captain uses an old maritime device to make sure the ship remains level we have a sort of pendulum on the bridge because we're talking about only for degree he has to already correct it he will see the difference you can have slight differences that's why you have a crew member in the back end here to give the information to the bridge what the actual drafts are it takes nine hours for the ship to sink 13 meters tika hopes this will be just low enough to prevent the largest yacht scraping the deck with their keels i'm about to start checking if the yards are stand by on channel one seven the yachts can only be loaded when the sea is calm any waves could cause the yachts to collide as they sail through the narrow entrance yacht express she must maneuver four lanes of yachts precisely into position over their cradles the star sapphire is one of the first to load but it's nowhere to be seen star sapphire yard express the coast guard is denying the star sapphire entry to the port of genoa general traffic we're a private motor yacht 165 gross tons you start to lose patience after a while with the pencil pushers tikka has to begin loading the late arrival of the star sapphire could seriously delay the entire shipment of course a yacht can't go over another yacht to go into his position the cribbing is laid out for each specific yacht so i can't change the positions anymore of the yachts you know any delay in our arrival at uh doc wise could jeopardize our departure because we're one of the first vessels to be boarding uh our agent is catalano shipping you can contact tommaso for any information start safari clear after an anxious exchange the coast guard eventually clears them to enter the port could you come over to portside a little bit more captain the 10 million star sapphire veers alarmingly close to the side of the ship it's a nerve-wracking maneuver for peter one line off two lines off we're moving pretty fast [Music] the deck crew use ropes to guide the yacht over its cradles peter maintains a watchful eye over his master's yacht so far it looks very good we're in good position they anchor each yacht in place with reinforced straps [Music] loading the first few yachts takes over an hour and with a storm approaching tikka's time window is narrowing she knows she has to load the remaining 19 yachts before the sea becomes too [Music] choppy [Music] guiding the last yacht into position will be tough now that the seas become choppy we have one more yacht to go as you can see there's only one space left and that's in between the silver chalice and victoria del mar just as the yacht struggles to reach its final position one of its engines fails the waves pushed the powerless vessel off course it veers uncomfortably close to the multi-million dollar victoria del mar they call in a tugboat to steer the vessel back on track are they doing anything otherwise the turbo the other one needs to turn also to court side come on i don't see the second one the team raced to cushion the impending collision with fenders [Music] get the second one to port side corner with the uh vowel thruster not working uh you know that's that's what's gonna to happen four meters forward one more meter tied up engines off shut down power tomorrow yeah once they uh raise the boat up and make this with the ship fully loaded and the yachts locked in place the crew raises the stern door what you can see now is that we close the door it's like a big swimming pool the movement of the yard express alongside the key is a lot less so you have a calmer environment now in the dark before they can set sail tika must drain the water out of the ship then she will face a new problem the storm looming on the horizon do you have a swell outside the breakwaters so uh the yachts are a little bit uh moving because of that the weather forecast said that it would be coming up to four meters high there as well of course we are inside the harbor but it's just this little movement is annoying for the for the job itself even within the port the rising swell is causing the yachts to shift around the straps are straining to hold the yachts in place before conditions deteriorate much further tikka needs to drain the water from the deck she sends down a team of divers to check the odds [Music] as the transporter's ballast tanks empty the ship will rise tika must coordinate the divers who will install a-frame supports under the yacht hulls these will ensure that the hulls will balance precisely on the cradles when they touch down they must work their way around all 22 yachts beginning with those with the deepest hulls as they will touch down first [Music] timing is critical if they fail to completely support a yacht before the water level drops too far it could topple over and trigger a multi-million dollar domino disaster initially i make my plan i can calculate at what point the yachts will sit on the cribbing so if i have this information i know where to send to divers [Music] captain valeri begins discharging the first set of ballast tanks one whistle in submerged condition almost all tanks is filled lose your attention to the screen you can lose control of the situation the ship will be fully afloat in eight hours so the divers must work fast but the language barrier is slowing things down tika calls on the help of diver supervisor enrico gardella bit tricky yeah so many divers and so many buttons midship is about 10 centimeters how many blocks 20 blocking on tokens it's two blocks practically that are not touchy okay captain peter watches the star sapphire gradually sink onto its cradle we were 12 12 and a half feet and we're down now we've gone down about six feet as the water level drops the first yacht nears touchdown the divers race to maneuver the heavy frames into position as the water level continues to fall the slightest slip could easily rupture this cruiser's hull the divers are still down positioning the blocks i can see a couple of the supports on the boat here one right there after a further 30 centimeter drop in water level the dive is set to work on the star sapphire they said it's about 15 centimeters to touch we're just about to settle onto the uh on the heel blocks and then they'll position the uh the hull supports once we're down and settle there the divers struggle to move the yacht's huge hull so that it fits snugly onto the cradles they're saying they want more this way i did but i'd like to know the real world because it was off the center as the water level above the deck drops the ship continues to i rise we're starting to touch the uh the after uh heel blocks i don't uh feel us moving quite so much but pretty soon you'll feel a little bit of a bounce as we uh settle onto the block they managed to line up the hull and insert the a-frame supports just before the water drains from under its keel but as the hull touches down there's an ominous sound [Music] there was just a really loud uh inside i don't know if that's one of the pumps or what if you don't check properly you could have a stabilizer which are those things like hitting something that you didn't move in time or and obviously they're so heavy that everything they touch something they break the divers have made a surprising discovery the sapphire is fitted with two stabilizers that protrude beneath the hull the plans jack submitted to tikka show the original design drawings from 2005 but shortly after delivery jack decided to retrofit two additional stabilizers and these are not on the plans stabilizers help cushion the yacht in rough weather but because they protrude below the keel they may have caused havoc when the yacht was moved on board the ship there's a risk they crashed into the wooden keel supports knocking them out of line and possibly damaging the stabilizers they have no option but to wait until the deck is dry to inspect the sapphire for damage i breathe much easier when the deck is dry and i see everything that we've done is done in the proper way we didn't make any damages the final few centimeters of water drain off the deck leaving the precious cargo high and dry [Music] so now what we'll do is we go forward the forward deck should be dry by now i will have a look what it looks like down below [Music] let's walk to other side uh for a minute and have a look over there tatika's relief everything appears ship shape including the star sapphire well these are the stabilizers they didn't inform us about but as you can see they're well clear of everything so in this case uh it was very lucky but it's vital information really the crew must now secure the yachts on deck for their 8 000 kilometer journey [Music] rough seas threaten to make this a turbulent voyage the a-frames that support the yachts are not secured to the deck so in a severe storm the yachts could break loose and crash into one another [Music] to prevent this happening the team decides to weld extra steel supports to lock the hulls in place on deck [Music] a layer of foam cushions the prop against the yacht's delicate hull [Music] it will take 148 supports to safeguard the entire fleet from the raging atlantic [Music] the captain wants to leave genoa before the storm breaks so welders rush to weld the supports to the deck [Music] [Music] i think they they've done an incredible job uh supporting the boat since our uh as built plans were not exactly uh perfect all 22 votes in place support structures are welded it's amazing job it takes good teamwork the team are now ready to set sail into the atlantic jack wishes captain valeri a safe very kind of you to let us see your operation yeah it's remarkable they did a great job with the boat and just came up to wish you the best on your trip if you want to wish good luck for a trip you make one time okay one turn that's 20. good luck captain this is it oh you could go around the world with this one he also bids farewell to the sapphire's captain peter who will travel on board the ship to florida yeah maybe uh you can learn some pointers from the captain up there if you'll give me something we can go across the atlantic next time and not use them okay sounds good see you in fort lauderdale all right after her final yacht inspection tikka leaves the yacht express in the capable hands of captain valeri and they cast off before the storm [Music] breaks 17 [Music] several yacht owners have paid for their maintenance crew to travel on board the ship the bay of the transporter acts like a huge dry dock so it's an ideal opportunity to carry out repairs the good chance to get some hole work below the waterline done without actually going into a shipyard so you'll see most people doing [Music] things i'm doing a little paint on the anchors a job list i have to work through even the crew of the transporter take advantage of the lull before the storm to spruce up their ship at the end of each day while the weather holds all the crews meet on deck for a good old barbecue all the excitement hard to contain myself but uh we're gonna try the best we can and hopefully we have a safe voyage and all goes well three days into the 12-day voyage the ship prepares to enter the atlantic october is hurricane season making this a particularly risky time to be venturing into the atlantic with such a precious cargo captain valeri receives news he does not want to hear this is fresh forecast which we received that cyclone developed from south of our position if cyclone will develop too much it could be has range about even 500 miles depending on the force of this cycle 450 kilometers ahead of the ship a category 2 storm hurricane omar is brewing on the sapphire captain peter is concerned about the scale of the storm ahead that's 100 foot waves and i don't want to be out here in 100 foot waves i don't think anybody else does either the hurricane could hit the ship with gusts of up to 150 kilometers per hour even though the new transporter is built to survive the worst sea conditions the yachts themselves could receive a severe battering to safeguard the 160 million dollar fleet captain valeri must plot a course away from the storm as soon as possible but the ship and its cargo weigh over 20 000 tons so changing direction is a slow process as you see behind of our ship we see the perimeter of the hurricane activities this is dangerous waters if suddenly put our vessel in the hurricane area it could be destroyed everything the captain plots a new course the diversion will delay the ship's arrival in florida but it should mean they escape the worst of the storm but if we could come from here we will be on the road of the hurricane so this is very dangerous so we will change course for the safe trip to avoid shifting of cargo the crew checked the yachts are anchored firmly enough to the deck to survive the pounding waves there we can can meet some big swell also fascinating must be tight our main target is to deliver this motor yacht to whatever place in good condition without damage the captain calls all yacht crew members to a safety meeting [Music] meanwhile the crew of the express perform emergency fire drills as they prepare for the worst the crew watch the darkening skies and hope that their preparations will be enough to survive the impending storm overnight the yacht transporter narrowly missed being battered by hurricane omar its crew and cargo have survived they got a little bit bumpy last night i'm sure what seas we had probably six to eight maybe eight to ten uh with plenty of wind so consequently everything is covered with salt [Music] oh you know just doing a little bit of a wash down here before we get in now that the weather is behind us see some of the other guys at work just to try to get most of the salt off meanwhile in florida yacht owner jack sternleeb waits anxiously for the arrival of his 10 million dollar mega yacht the star sapphire the hurricane has delayed the ship's arrival in florida by a day the ship finally arrives after 13 days at sea the captain faces one last test of seamanship he must navigate the huge transporter through the narrow channel leading to the keysight loading master john zia will be in charge of unloading the yachts the key thing here is for the captain to approach the ball slowly keep enough speed to make sure they have plenty of maneuverability as well pile will continue to bring the ship a little bit farther forward until she's in the four and a half position they secure the ship to the dockside but it is straining under its 20 000 ton weight right now she's hogging which means that on the stern and the bow she's deeper than she is in the middle of the ship just due to the bending stresses that the ship goes through when it's loaded with cargo [Music] the ship's hull is bending under the extreme stress if he submerges the ship too fast the hull could buckle under the pressure to prevent this john must submerge the ship slowly one section at a time he submerges the ship stern first at an angle before leveling out at a depth of 13 meters [Music] this should ensure the ship survives the huge stresses and the yachts can be delivered safely okay guys let's go to work john gives the order to submerge the ship and one by one the yachts lift off their supports [Music] just hate [Music] okay here we go the first boat is sailing out [Music] okay let's bring out the star sapphire nice and easy guys make sure that the fender is forward on that reversing the star sapphire out of the hold calls for absolute precision captain peter has a magic box of tricks that he hopes will prevent the yacht colliding with the transporter's walls how are you controlling the boat um this is a remote control wireless remote which gives me forward or reverse for both engines and then control of the stern and bow thrusters after two weeks the star sapphire makes it back into the open sea and we're out expressed we're clear thank you very much very nice trip peter's final task is to deliver it home to captain jack the yacht express has delivered its cargo without a single scratch completed all operations in time without any remarks pilots satisfied and meals for yacht owner jack his dream of sailing florida's coast finally comes true it seems nearly incredible that uh after watching this boat being built in turkey for two years and then cruising and doing some changes for another year that we've got it back in my home turf and 10 minutes from my home it's just going to be great to have it in my backyard

Channel: Spark

Views: 226,639

Rating: 4.744349 out of 5

Keywords: Spark, Science, Technology, Engineering, education, documentary, factual, mind blown, construction, full documentary, space documentary, bbc documentary, Science documentary, huge moves, monster moves, moving a building, building move, renovation old house, moving big buildings, technology 2021, construction management, engineering design process, full documentary channel, science experiments, engineering documentary, national geographic, Building Relocation

Id: yDJfx44AoG8

Length: 44min 32sec (2672 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 03 2021