Heerema Marine Contractor's new Deepwater Construction Vessel (DCV) Aegir was christened in the Rotterdam Calandkanaal (NL) with a spectacular show to mark the festive occasion. The christening was performed by Mrs Ann Vardeman.

This state-of-the-art vessel is capable of executing complex infrastructure and pipeline projects in ultra deep water, while offering sufficient lifting capacity to install platforms in relatively shallow water. What makes Aegir even more unique is that it is the first vessel in the world to make use of a portable Reel system which offers huge time savings because Aegir no longer needs to sail back and forth to shore.

The building of the Aegir started in July 2010 at the DSME shipyard in Okpo, South Korea. It arrived in Rotterdam in March of this year and was transported to the Huisman Yard in Schiedam where the pipelay equipment was installed. The vessel is 211 meters long and 46 meters wide. Aegir's Offshore Mast Crane can lift 4,000 mT. It took 55.000 tons of steel, 1500 km of welding and 1300 km of electric wiring to build the Aegir.

Aegir's first project will be the installation of risers at a depth of 2,000 meters in the Lucius Field in the Gulf of Mexico for Anadarko.