One of the few local owned jack up barge around was the 48 m ALASTAIR IV owned by Alastair Offshore Services Ltd part of Zammit Group of Companies.
She was built in Malta by Malta Shipbuilding Co Ltd (MSCL), delivered during early September, 2001 as a drilling barge prototype.
She was built in record time of 3 months and completed on schedule of the $ 1 million contract with around 150 personnel involved. She was one of the last ships on order at the MSCL before closing doors.
In December 2002 , Damen Shipyards of Gorinchem, Netherlands delivered the Damen Stan Tug 1605 yn 503906 as GABRIELE to be the supporting tug. She was 16.89 metres long with 5.29 metres beam and a draught of 2.51 metres. Powered by 2 Caterpillar Diesel Engines, she had a cruising speed of 10 knots and 12.4 tons bollard pull.
During her time at Malta she was even spotted drydocked at Bezzina Ship Repair Yard (BSRY).
Bezzina Ship Repair Yard (BSRY) is part of BEZZINA GROUP – www.bezzinagroup.com which they are our SPONSORS too.
During the barge service years 2 small support vessels were spotted with orange livery under the Offshore Shipping Ltd (OSL) company.
These were the multicat self propelled barge MOORSMAN II –
In 2010 she was renamed as MULTICAT II.
And the NORSEMAN , which was the support boat of the salvage vessel MOORSMAN (Former United Towing).
In 2009 the barge was being prepared to go to Congo –
On Wednesday 14th October, 2009 she left Malta from Church Wharf bound to Congo – https://maltashipphotos.com/photo/compass-towing-alastair-iv-no-3-14-10-2009/
In early 2010 while she was being towed during positioning operations of the coast of the Congo her tow wire snapped with the result of severe damage to the jacking legs. A causeway was constructed to the barge and the pumping equipment recovered before adverse weather prevented recovery operations being carried out. The barge was subject to storm conditions on the beach during January and February of 2010 causing further damage to the jacking system and hull plating.
