Saudi Aramco

Marine Department
June 2006
Marine Safety Flyer #4
Approaching Offshore
Construction Spreads

Over the next few years there will be ongoing heavy construction activities taking place
throughout all Saudi Aramco offshore fields. This flyer is a result of one near miss and one
incident which involved marine department vessels and an offshore construction spread. The
near miss involved the Atco Rasha who went across two anchor wires attached to the PLB 648.
The incident involved the Karan 4 who went over two lines and got stuck on a third line of the
PLB 648.
Anchor wires can stretch up to 1500 meters from a construction barge, and may consist of wire
or a combination of wire and rope. They will, when passing over pipelines, have damage
prevention buoys attached, which will hold the wire close to the surface of the water. Listed
below are a number of safe practices and procedures that are required for heavy offshore
construction spreads:-

1. Safety broadcasts are made 4 times daily by the barge and repeated twice daily by Tanajib
Port Control. Attention must be made to this broadcast as it will give details of the position
of the barge and any special precautions which might be required.
2. On approaching any anchor spread contact must be made, by VHF radio, with the barge
at least 2 kilometers before approaching the barge.
3. On approaching a vessel operating on DP, other vessels should not approach closer than
500 meters without permission.
4. If no answer is received from the barge the vessel should approach no closer, and inform
Tanajib Port Control that contact cannot be made. They will then contact or make
arrangement for someone else to contact the barge.
5. When entering inside the anchor pattern of a spread, the rig-move master will give
directions on how to proceed, or send a vessel attached to the spread with survey
equipment to guide the approaching vessel.
6. Vessels should not cross any anchor wire or enter inside any anchor pattern without
obtaining prior permission.
7. These instructions should be made a part of the standing orders for each vessel to ensure
all personnel on board are familiar with these instructions.

Abdulsalam A. Yousef
Manager, Marine Department
cc: Executive Director, Industrial Services
Loss Prevention Engineer
All Marine Department Employees & Contractors
Safety Flyer file