Supertankers | The Largest Ship Tankers - Geographic History

they are the monsters of the deep blue sea giants that help keep our modern world going they are supertankers dakari hail ng liquid natural gas building a supertanker and keeping its cargo safe is the ultimate engineering challenge for the energy content of ships like this is the same the 60 Hiroshima bombs to make these huge vessels safe we'll take precise engineering and super science only when every part of the boat is right will it take its place alongside other super tankers as a mega structure of the sea our supertanker journey starts here South Korea a country that produces 75% of the world's LNG supertankers it's a highly competitive business one of the industry leaders is Samsung better known for electronics they also have a division at the forefront of supertanker design and engineering their mission is simple to get as many BOTS built as quickly and as safely as possible deadlines are getting tougher demand for energy is increasing daily these fuel carrying Giants play a vital role in keeping our modern world going LNG super tankers are really right there at the top of the list in terms of technology there there's some of the largest vessels and of course that that makes them very interesting in terms of engineering the birth of samsung's latest LNG supertanker starts here in the docks ordered by Malaysian corporation she will be named sorry Amana which means royal honor and Trust our construction will be complex and relentless every inch of the shipyards three million square meters will be used to build her the reality of this industry is that time is money any mistakes or delays can cause costs to spiral out of control supertankers like this can sell for more than 200 million US dollars so the quicker they are built the more money there is to make building a supertanker is done in specific stages the bought is divided into six huge sections called Mega Bloks but can weigh up to 3,000 tons each mega block is built independently from smaller blocks these can weigh up to a thousand tons once each mega Blok is complete they're welded together to form the super time to shell the interior of the supertanker is outfitted with four massive insulated cargo tanks designed to carry liquid natural gas an enormous engine is installed with pipes to transport the L energy on and off the ship finally the crew quarters and bridge are put in place quite simply the build starts small and gets bigger completed our supertanker will be 282 meters long 33 meters high and 42 meters wide and weigh 75,000 tons Samsung Shepard is the second biggest in the world everything to do with it is huge in a year it takes delivery of 900,000 tons of Steel over 3,000 kilograms of rice is consumed by the 20,000 workforce every day and 1 million manners will be needed to complete supertanker Surya mana the first shift starts at 7:30 a.m. sharp and the workers head toward the designated section spread over the shipyard one of the most impressive things when you walk into a courier ship grinders the size particularly you know the ones that are building these large LNG tankers they're large blocks sitting all around parts of many ships throughout the yard very orderly setup just to see the level of work that's going on in these places is incredible the first phase of supertanker serie Manas construction journey is the steel preparation and cutting a barge arrives with large pieces of untreated steel each weighs six tons more weight than to New York carbs 4,000 steel plates like this will be welded together to make our supertankers hull it is the start of a relentless year and a half of hard labor that will turn her from a single plate of steel to a giant supertanker each sheet has to measure up to exact specifications the steel must be 2 centimeters thick 14 metres long and 4 metres wide only when this technician is happy the steel is of the right dimensions can it be sent to be cleaned and treated you step a furnace the aim to get the steel to a uniform temperature for the next stage short blasting in here thousands of tiny fragments are fired of the steel this gets rid of any imperfections and impurities after this this steel is coated with an inorganic zinc silicate primer this protects the steel whilst it's being worked on and releases less toxins during the cutting process the steel plate is now primed for action it has one last check even at this early build stage the team know this steel plates destiny it alongside 4,000 others will be dispatched all over the massive shipyard where a small army of workers robots and cranes will work flat out to mold steel plates like this into sections that over months will finally begin to resemble parts of a super tanker every single member of the team needs to be focused any mistake can put the project behind schedule over budget and potentially jeopardize the board's safety one weak piece of welding or cutting can make parts of the super tanker vulnerable something you can ill-afford with a volatile cargo like liquid natural gas in 1944 an entire square mile of Cleveland was leveled when an LNG storage tank exploded killing more than 130 people and leaving hundreds homeless survivors described this scene of destruction as looking like a war zone you energy is vital for life when I plan it imagine a world where cars store SETI's face blackout and factories cease production super tankers carry earth's very lifeblood across oceans to faraway continents but with oil reserves running out the world is searching for new fuel sources a new ways to transport them an answer is liquid natural gas and a vessel to carry it LNG super tankers demand has soared from 56 million tons per year 10 years ago to staggering 130 million tons in 2005 some experts predict this will triple in the next 10 to 15 years presenting a serious problem there are not enough LNG carriers to cope with the demand natural gas is found in gas fields all around the world it is drilled for on land or at sea and transported to liquification plants via pipeline where it is condensed into liquid form at a temperature of minus 160 degrees Celsius once in a liquid state supertankers can transport it across the globe to be offloaded in regasification plants where the LNG is returned to its natural state it is then delivered via pipeline to factories and homes it's a high-tech operation needing high-tech transportation but to float and Pyrrha ship bigger than the Titanic is a design challenge workers and technicians in the shipyard are dependent on the engineers in the research lab to give them the most effective plans for this super tanker only when the engineers are confident that the designs will work will the information be sent to the shop floor where skilled workers make sure the metal plates end up shipshape every plate must be millimetre accurate only then can the plate be sent to the next construction phase this steel cutting the steel cutting and fabrication is done in this massive hangar 73 cranes 11 robots and a thousand workers are all assigned specific tasks to get this area Manor into shape it's a relentless operation requiring accuracy and concentration every worker and every machine has a crucial role to play that methodical they're experienced and they're following you know sets of procedures that have been set up in order to do this diligently properly and as quickly as possible these are the first pieces of supertanker serie mana to be cut precise information from the blueprints is transferred to the factory floor where skilled technicians oversee robots cutting to the design dimensions the robots cut through plates of Steel at temperatures of 3500 degrees Celsius each piece a vital part of our supertanker jigsaw accuracy is important their quality controls that are placed on the construction of vessel if something's not done within those parameters normally it has to be redone only when the technicians are convinced the task is completely accurate will this still be sent on to the welding section where they will be joined together and become bigger and bigger evolving into a new generation of fuel carriers that carry liquid natural gas supertanker serie mana now consists of small steel sections called erection blocks each one unique specially designed for a specific part ninety-eight of these will be joined together in six mega blocks to form Syria manors hulls transporting these huge sections around requires some big machines like these specially designed flatbed vehicles that can support a thousand tons of steel these monster trucks are constantly on the move getting these blocks in the right place at the right time requires even more serious lifting gear like these mega cranes without these Giants the whole shipyard would grind to a halt being a train operator is one of the most stressful jobs in the shipyard demanding a hundred percent concentration safety is paramount any mistakes could be fatal so to avoid the risk of bun night and errors operators only work in four-hour shifts this block is part of our super tankers hull and weighs an incredible 500 tons more than a jumbo jet airliner on the ground safety officers make sure no workers earned method safety is paramount there's a lot going on there's a lot of big heavy equipment moving around you have to keep your wits about you you the block needs to be moved as quickly as possible the longer it's airborne the more delays to traffic on the ground slowing down the whole shipyard but this never gets in the way of safety every worker knows just how dangerous maneuvering away this size can be so if it's safety officer tells you to keep your distance you do it bloke down this area of the shipyard is now ready to resume activity this huge section is just a small component of sorry Amana it needs welding to other erection blocks eventually becoming a mega block six mega bloks will make up serie mana there are huge cross sections of the ship built and outfitted separately this mega Blok is the stem or back end of the boat staircases and the network of pipes are already taking shape inside a team of workers are busy outfitting the interior eventually this section will be welded to another mega block but getting these six giant sections together is one of the most challenging and potentially dangerous parts of the entire build supertanker Syria mana is six months into 18 month construction period she's approaching a crucial stage the drydock build phase all six mega blocks need to be lifted into this dog to be welded together most of these projects will have critical paths right which means that one particular item has to be finished before another one does waiting on the other side of the shipyard is the rear or Stern section all 3,000 tons of it too heavy for trains like this but not for C trains like this they can lift an incredible 3600 tons but this kind of muscle does not come cheap using one cost thirty thousand US dollars a day but today there is a big problem high winds it's too risky to lift the mega block each of the cranes cables is designated an exact load if a gust of wind creates too much movement the weight fluctuates which could snap the cable and if one goes they could all go risking the lives of workers on the ground and on the sea crane this is an expensive setback for Samsung because it still has to pay for the Sikh rain even worse it means the next phase of construction in the dry dock cannot go ahead as planned the safety officer carefully monitors the conditions there is a slight drop in the wind but the operation is halted with the stakes too high the liftoff is called off for the first time Cerie amana is behind schedule dawn the following day the weather forecast for later is bad but at the moment conditions are deemed safe enough for a mega lift but there is a new challenge this giant structure needs to go to drydock number two over a kilometer away this procedure normally takes a minimum of three hours but because the build is behind schedule and the afternoons weather forecast is bad the team decide to try and move the mega Blok in record time on the ground workers knock out the huge steel struts that support the mega bloks 3000 tons on the sea crane the operators check that all the cables are in place and that the huge weight is displaced safely finally it's time for liftoff the mega Blok designed for the sea is airborne the operator maneuvers this colossal structure over the water tugboats push it towards the drydock any little gust of wind or mechanical error could spell disaster and cost millions the whole shipyard is caught up in this record mega left attempt the Sten is now meters away from the dock but this is where the pressure kicks in the crane operator has to align it to within centimeters of the rest of the hull too big a gap and it can't be welded together meaning further delays something the company cannot afford then the drydock safety inspectors and engineers ensure everything is in place for the secret operator to lower the mega Blok into position slowly the block is Lord finally it's put down and is milimeter perfect three thousand tonnes moved one kilometer in less than one hour a record and within minutes the process of welding the mega bloks to the rest of the hole starts supertanker Surya mana is back on schedule workers flood the drydock it will take 150 million liters of water before seria manner can be tugged out enough to fill 60 Olympic sized swimming pools the following morning for the first time in her life serie mana has been touched by the sea the tugboats removed the drydock walls safety officers check that this huge vessel is fit for launching the tug pilot ensures all lines are secure final checks are complete serie mana takes to the water even though the tugboats are a hundred times smaller they still managed to pull the super tanker out of the drive you supertanker serie mana is now keysight and ready for the most important part of its build the four massive cargo tanks which will contain the liquid natural gas inside her hull workers have erected over five thousand tons of scaffolding this huge space is one of four cargo tanks that will store LNG at a temperature of minus 160 degrees Celsius ensuring the gas is condensed in liquid form this tank has over a 42,000 cubic meter capacity enough to power a city the size of Washington DC for a day storing the gas in liquid form means you can carry more of it making these super tankers more economical and more profitable by canning large quantities of fuel to clients if natural gas was not stored in a liquid state a super tanker would need to be 600 times bigger making it a hundred and seventy-seven kilometres long in order to carry the same amount of fuel an impossible size for harvest to accommodate little unbuild keeping this precious liquid cargo secured during voyages means developing cargo tanks that are totally secure there's certain features of LNG that pose dangerous to the vessel the low low temperature of the of the LNG would pose a danger to the ship structure in the steel if it were to come into contact with it and also there's a flammability and explosion risk from the gas itself so the containment system is set up and designed to mitigate these things and to control it every millimeter of the tanks 42,000 cubic metre interior has to be insulated contact with the freezing liquid natural gas could weaken the inner and outer hull leaving the whole ship vulnerable the outer hull offers the first layer of protection then next to the inner ho polyurethane foam insulation then a secondary barrier more polyurethane foam followed by a layer of wood and the most vital part a stainless steel membrane stainless steel is more resilient at low temperatures and less likely to corrode it's similar to a thermos flask it's intended to maintain the temperature of the cargo which is how you keep it in its liquid form so workers must ensure that the halt of the cargo tanks are covered in stainless steel a tiny hairline gap could jeopardize everything because the safety stakes are so high welding has to be accurate the shipyard employs expert welders and have developed a new range of robots using a laser to work out where it is and what it needs to do the spider robot precisely welds together some of the 2000 individual plates that make the stainless steel membrane helping to ensure the cargo is contained but that's not the only safety measure these cargo tanks are huge some 45 minutes long 40 meters wide and as the ship is moving in the Seaway you get huge waves building up inside the cargo tanks so the actual containment system has to be really strong built withstand these forces that are punching against it and trying to dislodge it any miscalculation could cause dangerous inertial forces to be generated by the millions of gallons of liquid shifting violently all over the cargo tanks workers are installing sophisticated monitoring sensors that relay the cargo tank conditions this information will be watched 24/7 on every voyage it takes over nine months to install taste and safety proof all for cargo tanks work is nearly completed on cargo time number three the scaffolding is removed and in the depths of the tanker the insulation is checked for damage and cleaned higher-up welders and robots work together to ensure every part of the cargo tank is perfect after thousands of man-hours it is unveiled in all its glory when these tanks are fully laden with LNG super tank Assyria mana will weigh 125 thousand tons hauling this massive weight demands a lot of power in this section work is being done on the engine room a team of specialists are busy outfitting the area carefully they check that all the components have been built to the right specifications the final stages of welding and finishing work are on schedule safety inspectors double-check every centimeter to detect any false this enormous space will be the heartbeat of our supertanker even though she is a flagship pact with 21st century science and technology she will actually be powered by a giant steam turbine in this 270 ton boiler water will be heated to 500 degrees Celsius the superheated steam will then rotate the turbine that drives this massive propeller seria mana is now just a month away from her scheduled delivery date the pressure is intense if any flaws are found they will have to be corrected delaying the contract being signed and final payment she will only need a crew of 40 to operate her this supertanker is no longer the scarred steel fortress she was a few months ago now she is painted throughout the ship a 39 kilometers artist of pipes has taken shape that will transport the LNG on and off the ship the engine room has gone from this to this pristine and ready for action this is the finished boiler that will power Syria mana across the ocean the turbine is installed this will be the driving force and weighs in at 293 tonnes the accommodation block and bridge are also ready on the high seas the crew will not be slumming it they will all have ensuite bedrooms and the ship is equipped with a games room and an elevator there is a modern kitchen with a gourmet chef serving up quality food for the captain his officers and the crew but Syria mana is not a luxury cruise liner these 40 officers and crew are all part of a team in charge of making sure this enormous vessel will cross huge stretches of water safely and on time delivering liquid natural gas to a growing number of clients it's a tall order especially for the captain there's captain the ship you've got an awful lot of responsibility I suppose you have to be a pessimistic person you have to look upon look what's the worst that could happen and then act in advance of that happening we make no sacrifices everything is about safety on a leash a carrier a state-of-the-art navigational and warning devices which track any vessel in the vicinity and let the nearest Port Authority and Coast Guard know the exact location right sophisticated radar like these also detect any threats LNG super tankers like Sarah mana can be potential targets for modern-day pirates much of my seagoing time is spent in the Far East and their areas round there where it is a risk and are talking piracy here they call them pirates basically the vast majority of opportunists thieves and what they want to do is to get on board the ship without being seen take what valuables they can get off as quick as possible there is also another danger in these days I think a ship is a terrorist target certain in the LNG trade we comply with the security code each ship has to develop its own security plan which is adhere to the main defense in LNG's is making sure that no other traffic comes close enough to the energy carrier to cause a problem whether it's another cargo ship whether it's container ship another tanker or whether it's a small boat that shouldn't be there with other purposes you're j16 if there is a perceived threat an officer can use the ship's security alert system to send out a distress call another security measure is a network of closed-circuit television cameras the scan all of Syria mana the vessel is also checked by the crew for any security breaches as the world's oceans become busier and busier collisions are becoming more of a concern this complex radar can detect boards over a hundred and ninety three kilometers away and track them if the navigational officer believes they're heading for a collision the other vessel will be asked to change its course an LNG super tanker going at full speed takes 14 minutes to stop so smaller vessels tend to get out of the way it is essential that the captain and his crew familiarized themselves with every part of Syria mana before the safe sale there will be several tests and detailed checks it's only when these trials are completed that she will be ready to embark it has taken a nonstop 18 months two-ton supertanker serie mana from this to this over 4,000 plates of Steel were used 40 kilometres of pipes 240 kilometers of wiring and 330 thousand liters of paint she's 33 meters wide 42 meters high and 282 meters long when she is fully laden with liquid natural gas she will weigh 125 thousand tons despite harsh weather conditions and tight schedule surya mana has passed inspection and is deemed seaworthy the delivery contract is signed something worth celebrating on board the ship the captain flies the malaysian flag indicating he is in command of syria manna and that she is now an operational super tanker costing more than 200 million u.s. dollars and clocking a million man-hours seria manna is now on her way to fill up her enormous cargo tanks with liquid natural gas and take her place alongside other super tankers as a mega structure of the sea

Channel: Geographic History

Views: 984,557

Rating: 4.4171658 out of 5

Keywords: Documentary, Documentary Films, Films, Movies, History, BBC, Nova, National Geographic, Documentaries, Documentary Channel, Documentary HD, Geographic History, Supertankers Documentary, Supertankers Documentary Films, Supertankers Films, Supertankers Movies, Supertankers History, Supertankers BBC, Supertankers Nova, Supertankers National Geographic, Supertankers Documentaries, Supertankers Documentary Channel, Supertankers Documentary HD, Supertankers Geographic History

Id: 5uAwLamVVz4

Length: 47min 20sec (2840 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 26 2015