Heerema Marine Contractors' Thialf.
The Thialf is a semi-submersible crane barge. It was built in 1985 as McDermott Derrick Barge No.102 for McDermott by Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding in Japan. In 1997, the vessel was acquired by Heerema Marine Contractors after the termination of their joint venture with McDermott.
The name Thialf is derived from Thialfi, the servant of Thor (the Germanic god of thunder).
The Thialf has two cranes with a total lifting capacity of 14,200 tonnes, which made it the largest crane vessel in the world until the appearance of the Sleipnir in 2019. It is equipped with a dynamic positioning system to stay in position in deep water. For that, it has six retractable rudder propellers. In relatively shallow water, it can use 12 22.5-tonne anchors, each with 2,500 metres of 80-mm-diameter steel cable.
This photo was taken in the evening of 4 September 2024 from the Rozenburg headland as the Thialf left port.
I am Jaap van den Berg and photography has become a great passion of mine since 2010. Since then I travel all over the world to take pictures of military aircrafts. But besides aircraft I also love to photograph other subjects like landscapes, architecture, flowers, animals, .. Read more…