Knock Nevis / ex-Jahre Viking

Knock Nevis - former Jahre Viking - was converted to a Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) unit in 2004 at Dubai Dry Docks (UAE) and installed on the Al Shaheen field for Mærsk Qatar the same year. The vessel is the largest tank vessel in the world. The ship was originally named the SEAWISE GIANT and was launched in 1975 at Sumitomo's Oppama yard (Japan) for Universal Petrolrum Company (Liberian flag), and was lengthened to its current size in 1980 at Nippon Kokan's Tsu yard (Japan).

Fred. Olsen Production AS (FOP) is wholly owned by First Olsen Ltd. (FOL), a company owned 50% by Ganger Rolf ASA and 50% by Bonheur ASA. Both companies are listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. FOP has been active in the offshore oil & gas production business since 1994. The core business for Fred. Olsen Production is to own and operate FPSO on a lease basis in the international oil and gas business. Fred. Olsen Production's strategy is to deliver fast track conversion FPSOs and FSOs based on functional specifications and off the shelf technology. This provides the customer with competitive and fast track delivery of Floating Production Units including highly skilled and hands-on operations organisation.

The Ultra Large Crude Carrier (ULCC) oil tanker Jahre Viking was the largest ship afloat in 2006. At 485.46 meters [1,503 feet long] from tip to tip, she surpasses the tallest land structure, the 424-meter Petronas tower of Malaysia. When fully laden she can not pass through the 32-mile-wide English channel, nor either the Suez and Panama canals. When fully laden, she sits 24.6 meters in the water, too deep to enter most of the world's major ports. She has a a beam of 69 meters [226 feet].

A typical very large crude carrier (VLCC) today is 280,000 DWT, 350 meters long, 60 meters wide and 30 meters deep. The Eiffel Tower is 300m high (984 ft) and consists of 6,300 metric tons of iron. The Statue of Liberty is 93.5m high (306 ft.) high, the figure alone is 46.4m (152 ft), and the figure weighs 254 metric tons.

The Jahre Viking has a surprisingly small crew of 40. Apart from a few Russian junior officers, the officers, including her captain, are Indians. The crew is almost entirely Filipino. When it is fully loaded with crude oil, she has a cargo capacity (deadweight tonnage) of 564,763 tons, with 260,851 gross register tons. Gross tonnage is a measure of the internal capacity of a ship. It is a cubic or space measurement of all areas of a vessel with some allowances or deductions for exempt spaces such as living quarters. Jahre Viking can carry nearly 650,000 m³ (4.1 million barrels) of crude oil.

Jahre Viking initially was not very large. She was built with a displacement of 480,000 tons deadweight. She was launched in Japan at Sumitomo Heavy Industries Yard at Opera in 1975 as hull number 1016 and christened Seawise Giant. After three years she was sold to C. Y. Tung who returned the vessel to shipbuilder Nippon Kokan in Japan to have a new section added in 1979. After modification, she measured 458.5 meters, the increased length adding another 87,000 tonnes deadweight, to make her, at 564,763 tonnes, the largest ship ever.

Finally, in 1981, she put to sea under the name the Sea Wise Giant. During the Iran-Iraq war, T.T. Jahre Viking was hit by the Iraqis on 14 May 1988 while transiting the Hormuz Straits. She was declared a total constructive loss and laid up in Brunei Bay. At the end of the war, she was bought by a Norwegian company, re-floated, and towed to the Keppel shipyard in Singapore. After major repairs, in October 1991, she was sailing again, under her new name "Happy Giant".

Later she was sold to Jorden Jahre for the sum of $39 Million. It was at this stage that the ship was renamed Jahre Viking.

Large Objects

The Eiffel Tower is a landmark familiar to almost everyone. This wonderful tower is 984.25 feet in height [1,063 feet with antenna]. The 1889 Tower's unprecedented scale and form shook the late 19the century French artistic establishment and worried political leaders, but the Tower allowed Gustave Eiffel to express the visual potential of modern engineering through the new material of industrial iron. The form of the Eiffel Tower, a narrow column sweeping out at its base, is a scientific diagram of resistance to the wind. Liberal arts students can easily grasp the formula that expresses the need for this shape. The story of the Eiffel Tower is also a story of the politics and economics of public works: it nearly paid for itself as the main attraction of a World's Fair marking the centenary of the French Revolution. The Eiffel Tower was built from 1887 to 1889 for the Paris Exposition to celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution. Over 700 proposals were submitted for the competition to build the monument and at random the design of French structural engineer Gustave Eiffel's was chosen. After the structure was completed in 1889 it stood 1,063 ft and many people in Paris did not like the final outcome. They thought it was not suitable for a city such as Paris and a petition of 300 names was submitted in protest. In 1909 the twenty-year lease for the tower was going to expire and it was almost torn down, but its antenna saved the tower from demolition. The antenna on the tower was used for telegraphy, which was the way in which people communicated with one another in Paris. By 1910 the Eiffel Tower had become one of the most recognizable symbols in the world and a landmark for the people of Paris. The Tower survived its critics and inspired a new generation of painters, including Georges Seurat and Robert Delauney. It soon became the defining symbol of France that it is to this day.

The Empire State Building was designed by the Architecture firm of Shreve, Lamb and Harmon. Standing proud on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street in New York City, the Empire State Building has 102 stories and reaches a height of 1,454 feet. It was completed in 1931 topping out at 1250 feet tall. Before that, the Chrysler Building building briefly held the record at 1046 feet. In the midst of the Great Depression in the United States construction began on the Empire State Building in New York City. The construction of this building was a result of a competition between Walter Chrysler of the Chrysler Corporation and John Jakob Raskob the creator of General Motors. John Jacob Raskob of General Motors and Alfred E. Smith, a former governor of New York, formed a corporation to finance the building. The Empire State Building was designed by architect William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb and Harmon. On March 17, 1930 construction began on the Empire State Building creating over 3,000 jobs for local laborers. The steel framework of the Empire State Building rose to the sky at an incredible rate of 4 and 1/2 stories per week. The building's construction was completed in a phenomenal one year and forty-five days! At a height of 1,252 ft (381 m), it beat out the Chrysler Building with a 200 ft (61 m) tower to make the Empire State Building the tallest building of its time. The Empire State Building officially opened on May 1, 1931. President Herbert Hoover pressed a button in Washington, DC, and on came the lights in the world's tallest skyscraper. Ever since its completion in May of 1931 the Empire State Building has been used to house some of the worlds most distinguished political figures such as Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth, The Duchess of York, Fidel Castro, Nikita Krushchev and many more. The mast on top was originally a mooring for dirigibles, or airships, which in the 1930s were considered to be the future of air travel. In 1950 a 222' antenna tower was added.

Sears Tower in Chicago stands 110 stories and 1454 feet tall. Chicago, the third largest U.S. city and the "capital" of the Midwest, has a long history of economic growth and cultural diversity. It was first incorporated in 1833. Chicago prides itself on being the Midwestern hub for entertainment, business and transportation. The city boasts the Sears Tower, the tallest building in North America, and the metropolitan area is home to nationally known corporations such as McDonald's and Boeing.

The Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia are two 88-story towers. Petronas Towers, at 1,483 ft (452 m), became the largest buildings in the world when they beat out the Sears Tower by 29 ft (8.8 m) due to the 33 ft (10 m) spires at the top of each tower. In 1998, the skyline of Kuala Lumpur was introduced to the 2 towers which have a crosswalk on the 42nd floor. The towers are comprised of 8 million square feet of shopping and entertainment, parking for 4,500 cars, a symphony hall, mosque and much more. The building was also featured in the movie Entrapment with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sean Conery.

The 509 m / 1,671 ft Taipei 101 is the world's tallest building, surpassing the height of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur in late August 2003. Taipei 101 holds the world record in three of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's height categories: tallest to the structural top, tallest to the roof, and highest occupied floor. The outdoor observation deck is the highest in the world. In October 2004 the tallest building in the world was completely finished. The Taipei Financial Center or Taipei 101 stands at 1,671 ft (509 m) and consist of 101 floors. Taipei Financial is one of the fastest growing financial institutions in Asia and is situated in a booming area of Taipei called the Hsinyi District. C.Y. Lee & Partners designed the building based on the number "8" which is a lucky number in Chinese culture because in Chinese "8" sounds like the word "prosper". In October 2003 Taipei 101 opened its shopping center and by its opening in fall 2004 the building housed various restaurants, an observatory and an executive club.

The Fordham Spire is the latest in a series of super-tall projects proposed since the mid 1990's. Some come to fruition. Others do not. This is the first Chicago project for Spanish architectural superstar Santiago Calatrava. Each of the building's floors are anchored to a central column, but slightly off-set so that each floor is rotated slightly as the tower rises higher. The result is something very much like a drill bit. Initial plans call for the bottom 20 floors to be occupied by a hotel, while the rest of the building is filled with luxury condominiums. In January 2006, documents filed with the City of Chicago stated that the roof height of this building was raised from the initial 1,458 feet / 444 meters to 1,550 feet / 472 meters, and 1,600 feet / 488 meters to the top of the water tank. With 124 stories, the maximum Height is approximately 2,000 feet / 610 meters including spires and antennae. on July 20, 2006 the property was sold to Garrett Kelleher, chairman of Shelbourne Development, for $64,000,000, following reports that the building's developer was having trouble securing financing. Kelleher promptly doubled the building's cost estimate, and proposed ground-breaking for Spring of 2007.

When completed Burj Dubai will hold the record in all four categories as recognized by the New York-based global authority - Council on Tall Building and Urban Habitat - highest structure, roof, antenna and occupied floor. "Burj" is Arabic for "Tower". The official height has not been released, and remains secret. The total height of 705 meters / 2,313 ft / 160 floors is subject to change. The highest residential floor will be level 109. An observation deck will occupy the 124th floor. The completion of the tower was slated for 2008. South Korea based-Samsung Corporation won a global bid for US$900 million (AED 3.285 billion) for the construction of the tower. The Tower is the central core of the magnificent US$20 billion (AED 73 billion) Burj Dubai district and the new emerging Downtown Dubai. More than 500 international consultants around the globe are currently finalising the design. At its construction peak, a workforce of more than 20,000 construction workers will be on site to create 45 million square feet of liveable space to accommodate 30,000 homes, making the Burj Dubai site the biggest single construction site in the world.