CUSW Shipping. Newfoundland, a joint venture of Dutch ship delivery specialists Wijsmuller Bros., Canship Ugland Shipping Ltd of Newfoundland, Canada and their subcontractor SmitWijs, has just completed a remarkable ocean voyage. The Terra Nova Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel - with a capacity of 960,000 barrels and amaximum offloading rate of 8,000 cu.m. per hour- was taken from South Korea to Newfoundland in record time, driven by its twin auxiliary diesel generators, whilst simultaneously being towed.

The Terra Nova FPSO was built at Daewoo Heavy Industries Ltd in Okpo, Korea. For the 12,000-mile voyage to Bull Arm, Daewoo Heavy Industries -in association with the Terra Nova Alliance- chose the most efficient and secure means of delivery: transportation on its own keel and under its own power, with the ocean-going tug Wolraad Woltemade as 'tow assistant' for the journey. The Terra Nova FPSO could have made an average speed of up to 8 knots sailing all by herself, compared to approximately 4 to 5 knots for a traditional wet tow. The combined use of a tow assistant and a full crew on the vessel added even more speed to the transport.

With its transport speed reaching 10 knots at times, the Terra Nova FPSO arrived at Newfoundland in half the time required for a conventional tow. In addition to the delivery crew of 23, employed by CUSW Shipping and supplemented by staff members of the Terra Nova Alliance, 55 additional commissioning and maintenance crew were on board for en route preparations to the hook-up and commissioning in Canada. Escort tugs were used for passage of the congested waters of Singapore and the Malakka Strait and in the Suez Canal. For the remainder of the voyage, the 292-metre FPSO sailed under its own power with the tug Wolraad Woltemade providing the extra pull.