All language subtitles for Superstructures Engineering Marvels Series 1 2of6 Ultimate Cargo Ship 1080p

Narrator:
This is no ordinary ship.

Man: It's one of the biggest
in the world.

Narrator: To carry some of
the largest sea cargos ever,

it does what most ships are
designed to avoid at all costs.

Man: It's really amazing
to see something this big

immerse itself almost
completely under water

and then come up again,
carrying something huge.

Man: It's a bit
of a game changer.

It's like kind of a combo
cargo ship and submarine.

Narrator: The gpo amethyst

is one of a prestigious
superclass of ships

known as semi-submersible
heavy lifters.

Man: To be a captain
on this vessel

is actually a great honor.

Narrator: From the outside,

it's impossible to see
the feats of engineering

that give the amethyst
its incredible capability.

Man: So, a lot of factors
can go wrong,

and we should be ready
for any of these.

Narrator: The only way
to reveal its secrets

is to take this supership apart

and uncover
what's going on inside.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

today, the amethyst is en route
to the gulf of mexico,

where it will attempt
to load up

two giant decommissioned
oil rigs bound for oman.

At the helm is
captain evgeniy nikityuk,

who's been in the ocean-going
heavy-lifting business

for 11 years.

Evgeniy nikityuk:
Thousand ten.

Man on radio: London star,
london star...

Narrator: The next few days
will see his ship tested

not only by some of
the biggest cargo on the seas,

but also by weather that pushes
them to the brink of disaster.

(thunder)

evgeniy: We got
sudden squalls appears,

with wind speed up to 55 knots.

(thunder)

narrator: In recent years,

global industries
like oil and gas

have demanded
ever-heavier cargos

be transported
across the globe.

Single items can weigh
up to 50,000 tons,

and that creates
a real problem.

Andrew steele:
The weights of these things,

it's just absolutely
mind-boggling.

Just imagine trying
to move that from a to b.

It'd become almost impossible.

Things like road and rail,

you just can't move
a modern oil rig like that.

And the old solution
of dragging them using tugs

just wasn't cutting it.

So, an entirely new approach
was needed.

Narrator:
The only viable solution

is to transport these
exceptional cargos by sea,

but to do that requires
an exceptional ship.

Enter the amethyst,

one of heavyweight ocean
transportation's

most advanced vessels.

Nick bradbeer: This is a class
of huge, heavy-lift ships,

and they're just awesome
in scale, they're enormous,

and they can lift things
which are so heavy,

you just can't lift
and transport them

by any other means.

Narrator: This ship's deck
is an incredible 600 feet long

and 158 feet wide.

♪ ♪

it's so big that no less than
16 statues of liberty

would fit onto it.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

the deck can also accommodate

both of these enormous
oil rigs, just.

But they tower over 200 feet
above sea level.

Andrew: Imagine trying to move
a massive oil rig

weighing tens of thousands
of tons, and worse than that,

it's not at all hydrodynamic.

It's not got a beautiful
sleek hull like a boat.

It's basically a massive square,

so moving these things had
become more or less impossible.

♪ ♪

man over radio: Evgeniy.

Narrator: As the amethyst
approaches the rigs,

the 26-strong crew prepare the
deck for the colossal cargo.

Evgeniy: So now they are
putting the stagings down

on the main deck.

Narrator: The rigs
have a combined weight

of 25,000 tons,

and that presents a fundamental
engineering challenge.

Danielle george:
Now, the most obvious problem

of carrying such heavy cargo
on the deck of a ship

is the strength
of the deck itself.

♪ ♪

amos winter: The amethyst has
a very, very, very long deck,

so when it tries
to pick up a load,

if the load was very heavy

and just concentrated
right in the center of the deck,

it might try to "taco"
the whole ship.

The front of the ship would hit
the back of the ship.

Narrator: A deck of very thick
steel would stop it caving in,

but it would also make
the ship far too heavy.

In fact, it has
a very thin deck.

Gabriel weymouth: The thickness
of the steel is tiny

compared to the area.

Without any additional
stiffening,

it's going to buckle
like a piece of paper

under these loads.

(beeping)

narrator: The solution
comes from dry land,

from inside skyscrapers.

The deck is only 1 inch thick.

But underneath it,
there's a lattice structure

connecting it
to a second thin deck.

The lattice is comprised

of very specifically shaped
steel beams.

Their cross-section
is like a capital I,

just like the I-beams
that hold up skyscrapers.

Even when immense force
presses down on them,

the shape should prevent
any distortion

and protect the thin top skin
of the deck.

Gabriel: And that's going
to increase the stiffness

without increasing
the weight very much

because, at the end of the day,
this vessel needs to float.

Narrator: The next problem
is how to distribute the load

across the deck.

Nick: It's really important
that the cargo deck remains flat

because if it bends slightly

and part of the deck is higher
than another part of the deck,

that load will all sit
on the highest part of the deck

momentarily,
which could break the ship.

♪ ♪

narrator: At a shipyard
in kaohsiung, taiwan,

gpo are building
two more heavy lifters

with the exact same design
as the amethyst.

And they're in the midst
of constructing

the super-strong,
ultra-flat decks.

♪ ♪

giant piles of steel plates
are being prepared.

♪ ♪

154 of them need to be
fixed together.

That's a mile and a half of
seams to be precision-welded.

♪ ♪

nick: Welding steel plate
is very challenging,

but it's necessary
for a ship like this.

♪ ♪

(speaking chinese)

hsu huei-lin, translated: We use
carbon dioxide arc welding

to make the joints

because it's fast and gives
a really smooth finish.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

narrator:
Once the welding's complete,

the deck is inspected.

Narrator: Shipbuilding doesn't
usually involve measurements

in tenths of inches,

but for these ships,
it's vital.

Narrator: These vessels
will be complete

in roughly a year's time.

♪ ♪

back in the gulf of mexico,

evgeniy is racing to rendezvous
with the cargo.

Evgeniy: Hard aport.

Man: Zero nine zero.

Evgeniy: Zero nine zero, steady.

Man: Steady.

Man on radio: (radio chatter)

we're gonna count
seven, four, seven, four.

Narrator:
The amethyst must have

an extraordinarily
powerful engine system

to maximize its speed.

The question is, what?

Narrator: With a total length
of 738 feet,

a breadth of 158 feet
and a height of 20 stories,

the amethyst is vast.

It needs to be to successfully
pick up its consignment,

these two massive
decommissioned oil rigs.

Narrator: Captain evgeniy
checks his radar.

Evgeniy: We're just
trying to locate the...

Where the first rig is now.

Narrator: He's closing in
on the loading location

off new orleans
in the gulf of mexico.

Evgeniy: It's on
the starboard propulsion.

On the port propulsion.

Four twenty.

Man: Four twenty.

Narrator:
Once the rigs are loaded,

the amethyst needs
to carry them

more than 13,000 miles to oman
as fast as possible.

Narrator: It's crucial
that nothing goes wrong

with the propulsion system,

so chief engineer konstantin

has a computer system
to monitor it.

Konstantin antufyev:
My role here is I'm responsible

for all equipment.

Narrator: There's only one
choice for the main engines.

Diesel power remains
the standard,

and for a ship this size, the
engines need to be gigantic.

One is not enough, so it has
a pair on either side.

Danielle: Each engine is
around 9,600 horsepower.

That's the equivalent
of 12 ferrari v12 engines.

You know, these are really,
really powerful engines.

Narrator: Extreme power
means extreme weight.

Each engine weighs 132 tons.

The four of them together
are heavier than a jumbo jet.

But curiously, these engines

are nowhere near
the propellers.

Nick: In most ships powered
by diesel engines,

the engine is connected through
a gearbox to the propeller shaft

but in this ship, the engines

aren't physically connected
to the propellers.

Narrator:
The engines' massive size

means the only place
they can fit is at the bow.

But that means
a 540-foot-long drive shaft

connecting the engines
to the propellers,

which can't be done.

Gabriel: One issue with having
a 540-foot-long drive shaft

would be that it would need
to be supported

all along that length, and that
it would have to have bearings

and other kinds of equipment.

You'd have to have access
to all those things,

and so that would take up
a lot of space below the deck.

♪ ♪

narrator: Under the bridge
and at the bow--

the only place
there's room for them--

lie the beating heart
of the ship,

the amethyst's engines.

To get the power
to the propellers,

they drive electric generators,

then cables carry the power
the entire length of the ship

to electric motors
at the stern,

which directly drive
the propellers.

No long drive shaft required.

It's an elegant solution,
but it does mean

the electric motors
at the stern

need to be exceptionally large
as well.

Nick: The most powerful electric
motor in most people's house

is probably
in their washing machine,

and each of the motors
on amethyst's propeller shafts

is 5,000 times more powerful
than that.

Narrator:
That kind of electric power

gives the amethyst
the ultimate spin cycle.

And to generate
sufficient thrust,

the propellers
are 18 feet tall.

But what's really clever is the
mechanics hidden inside them,

which means they
have to be installed

with extreme precision.

♪ ♪

in taiwan,
there's a rare chance

to see these propellers
above the water.

They are installing
the starboard prop

on the amethyst's sister ship,
the emerald.

Fu siang lee, translated: This
is a job that needs an engineer.

It's so precise, they have to
sign off the measurements

before we can do anything.

Narrator: The blades are made

from a copper, nickel
and aluminium alloy.

They're designed to cut
through the water

with exceptional efficiency.

Narrator: It's the fastest
ship in its class,

but it's what's inside
the propeller shafts

that makes the amethyst
propulsion system remarkable.

Each propeller has four blades.

Normally the system is solid.

Not on the amethyst.

Inside each shaft is
an oil-filled hydraulic piston.

When these move, they alter
the angle of the blades.

This means they can swivel
or be feathered

to change their pitch

and therefore
the thrust they produce.

They can also swivel
into reverse,

so the shaft spins the same way
to go forwards or back.

And when not needed,
they have a zero-drag position.

Narrator: Time is money,
and in heavy industry,

where an oil rig rents for
upwards of $100,000 a day,

the amethyst
has to be reliable,

even if the worst happens.

With four diesel engines
and four electric motors,

even if there are
multiple breakdowns,

both propellers keep turning.

Nick: This ship has the ability

to automatically hold
her heading and position

in good weather,

and she can keep doing that
even if a component fails.

That's why she has to have
two motors per shaft

in case one breaks.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

narrator: The amethyst's
propulsion system is a triumph.

The ship can cruise
for 25,000 miles

without needing to fill up.

That's all the way
round the planet.

Right now evgeniy is anxious
to meet his cargo on time,

but cruising at high speed
in a ship this large and heavy

makes one task
particularly difficult:

Bringing it to a stop.

Danielle: It has huge amounts
of momentum pushing it forward.

Now, the only way, really,
to make that stop

is to have a force
in the opposite direction

acting upon that ship.

♪ ♪

narrator: 8:00 a.M.

Captain evgeniy is motoring
at full speed

to the location where
the amethyst is about to load

one of its most challenging
cargos yet:

Two scrap oil rigs
that it will ship to oman.

(radio chatter)

evgeniy: Bridge, captain.

Narrator: With one of the
biggest ships on the oceans,

even the simplest of operations
like coming to a stop

has hidden complexities.

At sea, you can't just
hit the brakes.

This ship weighs
31,000 tons empty.

Stopping it is like
stopping a formula 1 car

that's traveling at over
700,000 miles an hour.

Gabriel: You have a car on land
and you hit the brakes,

the friction between the tires
and the road

will quickly bring
the car to a stop,

but the friction against
the hull of the amethyst

is very small,

and even if you turn
the propellers off,

that thing will keep going
for a very long time.

♪ ♪

narrator: In open water,
the high tech propellers

can switch to reverse thrust

while spinning
in the same direction.

That's 8,000 kilowatts all used
to force water backwards.

It can stop the ship dead
in 500 yards.

Evgeniy:
Prepare starboard anchor.

Narrator: Time to drop anchor.

Evgeniy: Please report
when be ready.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

narrator: Meet aleks.

He's the load master and has
over 25 years' experience

supervising some of the most
complex ocean cargo operations

on the planet.

He's heading out
to the amethyst

to plan the detailed execution
of the load.

Aleksandrs przendzinskis: The
loading can complete three days.

But we need good weather.

Narrator: Now on board,

aleks studies the weather
forecast with the captain.

It is not looking good.

Aleksandrs: Big question mark.

The direction the weather
is going to, we don't like,

because actually
the window is closing.

Evgeniy: The forecast
becomes less friendly

for the loading operation
itself, yeah.

But other look is not promising.

It's not promising at all, yeah.

Aleksandrs: Oh, seven?

Narrator: They need
inch-perfect positioning

to load the oil rigs.

If there's bad weather,
it'll mean delays.

If there's a storm, they won't
be able to load at all.

And there is one
on the horizon.

The question is,
when will it hit?

The whole mission
hangs in the balance.

Even in good weather,
it is extremely difficult

for the amethyst to hold
its position in the open sea.

Nick: A ship afloat can move

in what we call
six degrees of freedom.

It can slide forward
and backward,

left and right, up and down,

and it can also turn around
each of those three axes,

rolling, pitching and yawing.

Narrator: The amethyst
has special hinged rudders,

which gives it a much smaller
turning circle

than many other ships
of its size.

♪ ♪

in taiwan, they're installing
them on the new ships,

and it needs to be done
with incredible accuracy.

(speaking chinese)

chun an lin, translated:
We need to precisely align

the center line
from top to bottom

to make sure the rudder base
is balanced when we install it.

Narrator: Fitting the rudders
is not easy

in taiwan's tropical
high temperatures.

In the heat of the day,
the metal expands,

which could mean the team
don't put the rudder

in the right place.

An inch off could compromise
the ship's maneuverability.

So, they use a simple,
if inconvenient, trick.

Chun an lin:
We have to do it at night

to ensure we eliminate
any chance of miscalculations.

Narrator: Even though
the cargos are enormous,

loading them
aboard the amethyst

will require extremely accurate
maneuvering.

Fancy rudders alone
are not enough.

Deep below the water line, near
the very bottom of the vessel,

there are several curious
shafts that traverse the ship.

Inside there are thrusters,
extra side-on propellers

that can force water out of the
shafts in controlled bursts.

Nick: The forces required to
maintain its position precisely

are just enormous,

and that's why her bow and stern
thrusters are huge.

They can generate very large
amounts of thrust very quickly

when they're needed,

and stop again very quickly
when they're not.

Narrator: There are
four thrusters;

two at the bow
and two at the stern.

Evgeniy: The four thrusters
now in operational condition.

Number two and one bow thrusters

and number three and four
stern thrusters,

so we can swing the vessel

in the desired direction
how we need to.

Narrator: With these thrusters,
the amethyst can move sideways

in tiny increments, as well
as forwards and reverse.

♪ ♪

like the main propellers,

they can change the pitch
of their blades

to control the thrust
they are delivering.

They're part of what's called
a dynamic positioning system,

but although it enables
incredible control of the ship,

it can do nothing
to control weather.

Either wind speed or wave
height could halt the mission.

Aleksandrs: Yeah,
to load these two rigs

we need wind
less than ten knots,

and the sea stay
at less than half a meter.

If it's above these limits,

then we cannot load
because it's not safe.

We can damage the vessel,
the cargo and, most importantly,

we also can harm our crew
during loading.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

narrator: It's 6:00 p.M.
Off new orleans,

and aleks checks the forecast.

(indistinct conversation)

evgeniy: ...Overnight.

♪ ♪

narrator: He discovers his
weather window is shrinking.

The storm is heading their way,

and the crew are
suddenly concerned.

(thunder)

♪ ♪

evgeniy: We've got
sudden squalls appears,

with wind speed up to 55 knots.

Major swell coming
from the south in the area.

(thunder)

narrator: The amethyst
is waiting to load two oil rigs

with a combined weight
of 25,000 tons.

(thunder)

but overnight, the weather
takes a turn for the worse.

Evgeniy: Now we've got
sudden squalls appears

with wind speed up to 55 knots.

Narrator: A force-eight gale
is now blowing.

(indistinct conversation)

narrator: With gusts more
than five times the wind speed

they can safely load in...

Narrator: ...The entire
operation is in jeopardy.

If there's no window
in this violent storm,

they might have to reschedule
the operation.

Evgeniy: This is a good example
of the adverse weather

can change gradually
just within seconds.

Narrator:
They resort to engine power

to try and stop the amethyst
pulling anchor.

Evgeniy: But the anchor
is holding well

and we are just confident
that we are safe at the moment,

so we just get ready
in all respects just in case.

(thunder)

narrator:
After an anxious wait,

the lashing rain subsides,
leaving just high winds.

Evgeniy needs to know
how the rigs are doing.

If either is in trouble,
the load is off.

Evgeniy: There are also
compensating the wind effect

in the area.

So, hopefully they are okay.

♪ ♪

(beeping)

narrator: Next morning,
the wind dies down.

But as the crew wait for the
swell to return to safe limits,

new information
suddenly comes in

about how deep the rigs
are sitting in the water.

They're lower than expected.

This is a crisis
for the amethyst

because of
the highly unusual way

she's going to load the rigs.

25,000 tons of
awkwardly shaped steel

looks impossible
to heave onto a deck.

The gpo engineers had to defy
shipbuilding logic.

Narrator: The way the amethyst
will load the oil rigs

is to deliberately submerge
its deck beneath them,

and then refloat to lift them
out of the water.

The amethyst is known
as a semi-submersible

because it only
partially sinks.

Nick: There's something
really impressive

about seeing something
just so massive

submerge itself
almost completely under water

and then come up again.

Just the scale of these things
is mind-blowing.

♪ ♪

danielle: I find it
absolutely incredible.

So, a ship that can sink itself
in a controlled manner

sort of defies science.

♪ ♪

narrator: So, how do
the amethyst's designers

achieve a feat that challenges
the fundamentals

of ship design?

The answer is hidden
under the deck.

♪ ♪

below the steel lattice,

there's no cargo hold,
no cabins.

The ship's entire hull
is made of ballast tanks.

When water is pumped into them,

it reduces
the ship's displacement,

and the ship gradually begins
to sink below the water line.

Narrator: The amethyst
is ready to submerge,

but the news that the oil rigs
are sitting lower than expected

in the water
changes everything.

The ship will have to be
lowered further than planned

to float the rigs
over the deck,

and there's a bigger problem
that needs urgent attention.

When submerged, guide posts
welded to the deck

need to be visible
above the water

to show the exact spot
the rigs must align to.

Narrator: With the ship deeper,

these guide posts will be
completely invisible.

Evgeniy: Our original design
guide post is 7 meters,

so the guide post should be
extended by 2 meters height

to be visible while the floating
cargo will be over the deck.

Narrator: The whole operation
will be called off

if the crew can't modify
these guide posts.

Evgeniy: The option is to weld
the special antenna

up to two meters high.

Narrator:
Extending the guide posts

should enable the operation
to continue.

The crew have to work fast.

They don't know how long
the weather window will hold.

♪ ♪

finally, the captain
is satisfied.

The huge deck area

is now ready to receive
the two giant cargos,

and the operation can begin.

It will take about six hours.

♪ ♪

the hull of the amethyst

can fit 160,000 cubic yards
of water,

enough to fill
49 olympic swimming pools

and create a potential danger.

Nick: As the ship moves
slightly in the waves,

all that ballast water would
slosh from one side to the other

or from one end to the other

and the ship would roll over,
no doubt about it.

There's a very simple solution
to avoiding capsizing your ship,

which is to break the ship up

into a large number
of ballast tanks.

Divide the sloshing surface up
into as many pieces as you can.

Narrator: The hull is split

into a total
of 76 ballast tanks,

laid out in three layers.

This allows the crew
to regulate

exactly which parts of the hull
are emptied

so that the ship
is always kept stable.

♪ ♪

man: Ballasting starting.

Narrator: Inside the bridge,
the crew begin the submerge.

Evgeniy: This is the main brain
for the cargo operation,

so this is actually the system

which this vessel
is designed for.

Narrator: The ship's
95,000-square-foot deck

starts to sink down 30 feet,
or nine and half meters.

Evgeniy: This is the physical
process of taking the water

into the designated
ballast tanks,

how it is calculated
to know that the vessel,

to get the positive stability
all the time

for the cargo operation.

♪ ♪

narrator: By early morning,

the ship's hull is
successfully submerged.

But this is when it's
at its most vulnerable.

Evgeniy: I can't say that we
are just not nervous. We are.

♪ ♪

narrator: Partially submerged,
the amethyst waits

for the first of its monumental
cargos to be floated over it.

The next part of the operation
is the most dangerous:

Bringing the cargo
into physical contact

with the amethyst.

This rig alone
weighs 13,500 tons.

So the amethyst's crew

must make sure the ship
doesn't sink altogether.

Evgeniy: All the personnel must
be very vigilant all the time,

and especially the guys who's
operating the particular system,

including the guys
who's controlling this.

Nick: When the ship's
ballasted down for loading,

she's in a very vulnerable
position.

It doesn't take
very much flooding

before she's at serious risk
of sinking.

♪ ♪

narrator: The ship now has

roughly 100,000 tons of water
inside its hull.

All that's stopping it
plunge further

are the parts above sea level.

Where they break the water line

is known as
the water plane area.

Nick: When amethyst
is ballasted up

in her transport configuration,

she has a huge water plane area,

and that gives her
enormous stability.

But when she's ballasted down
in the loading configuration,

her water plane is tiny.

Narrator: The bridge holds up
the bow of the ship

and crucially, these two
giant towers at the stern.

Narrator: As long as they're
kept above sea level,

the water plane area
will be large enough

to stop the ship diving
to the bottom of the ocean.

♪ ♪

man on radio: Weatherly.
Weatherly, this is rig mover.

You copy me?

(radio chatter)

narrator: At last.

With the weather holding,
the first rig can be loaded.

Narrator: Aleks instructs
three tugboats

to gently pull the rig
towards the amethyst.

Narrator: The closer they get,
the higher the risk.

Nick: There's not a lot of ship
above the water.

She doesn't have a lot
of spare buoyancy,

and there are tugs,

and there is a heavy object
moving around her.

There's a very high risk
of collision.

Narrator:
The corners of the load

now need to be tied to the ship

so it can be
carefully winched in

to line up
with the guide posts.

Narrator: With four ropes
connected, the rig

can be pulled into position
directly over the deck.

Man on radio:
Well, we're down to 40.

♪ ♪

narrator: They pull the rig
inch by inch

towards the guide posts,

which mark exactly where
the rig needs to be positioned.

Narrator:
It is the critical stage.

When the amethyst lifts the rig
out of the water,

even an inch off the mark could
upset the weight distribution

across the deck and
destabilize the entire ship.

Narrator: They get it close,
but not close enough.

One final effort
is all it needs.

Gabriel: In order to reemerge
from under the water,

it has to shift out
100,000 tons of water

from its tanks.

It has to do so quickly,
which is pretty amazing.

Narrator: The ship is now ready
to lift itself

and 13,500 tons of oil rig
clean out of the water.

It's the moment of truth.

♪ ♪

narrator:
In the gulf of mexico,

the amethyst is about to start

the final and most hazardous
stage of the loading operation.

The rig is now in place
over the submerged deck.

They can start
bringing the ship up.

Everybody's tense.

The 13,500-ton rig
is locked in position,

but until it makes contact
with the ship,

it's still floating
and unpredictable.

Nick: Because she's vulnerable

for the whole process
that she's ballasted down,

amethyst needs to move thousands
and thousands of tons of water.

♪ ♪

narrator: Pumps with
high-speed impeller blades

use centrifugal force to fling
water out of the tanks

at an incredible rate of over
four million gallons per hour.

(water gurgling)

instead of days, they can be
emptied in seven hours.

♪ ♪

(whirring)

evgeniy: Pumps are big in order
to have a bigger capacity.

It is a bit noisy here.

♪ ♪

narrator:
As the ship starts to rise,

when deck and rig meet,
it's crunch time.

Evgeniy: There are a lot
of factors can go wrong,

and we should be ready
for any of this.

We are trying to do this, and
until now we are managing that.

Nick: One of the riskiest points
in the whole operation

is as the ship lifts up
and makes contact with the load.

We have to be sure the load's
in exactly the right place.

Narrator:
The pumps are so powerful,

the sudden buoyancy has to be
tightly controlled.

Right now,
if anything goes wrong,

it will be a catastrophe.

Nick: If there's a problem
with the ballasting system

and the ship doesn't come up
exactly as she was meant to,

that could cause the ship
to lose stability,

that could result
in her capsizing.

Narrator: But the amethyst can
shift her own weight around

to keep her balance.

The pumps don't just move
the water out of the tanks

and back into the sea;

they can also move water
around the ship.

However the load is sitting,

amethyst can shift
her center of gravity

to remain stable.

Gabriel: As it lifts up
these giant oil rigs,

it needs to be careful to keep
the center of the weight

in the center of the vessel,

and so if the oil rigs
are slightly off-center,

slightly further forward
or left or right,

it can compensate by moving the
water from one tank to another.

Narrator: The ship keeps rising
out of the water.

♪ ♪

success.

The amethyst has loaded
the first rig.

Evgeniy: So, we are safe.

(gulls squawking)

(radio chatter)

narrator: The next day, the
team need to repeat the process

to get the second rig
onto the deck.

♪ ♪

as the ship rises once more,

the ballast team
keep careful watch.

♪ ♪

both rigs are out of the water
and in the right place.

Now the crew can weld them
securely onto the deck

before their long journey
to oman.

♪ ♪

at last, the amethyst and
her incredible 25,000-ton cargo

are ready to set sail for
the other side of the world.

It's a job almost no other ship
on earth could do.

Evgeniy: We consider
that the loading operation

has been completed.

♪ ♪

narrator: From her incredible
super-strong deck

to her super-powerful
propulsion system...

From inch-perfect positioning

to her complex multi-tank
ballast arrangement,

she's one of heavy industry's
greatest superstructures.

Gabriel: Amethyst is remarkable,

because they put all of these
different technologies together

to give a heavy-lift ship
that can do its job

just about as perfectly
as you can imagine.

♪ ♪

captioned by
side door media services