On 15 February 2022, the Heerema’s barge H-408 flowed into the harbor towards Rosetti Marino’s yard in Ravenna Italy. The long flat-bottomed boat is used to carry large structures, and it is towed through the water by tugboats.

– I clearly remember how I felt when I saw the barge arrive. It was big. Immediately I thought that in only 37 days it will have loaded all that we have been working on for four years. Now the barge has sailed away again, and our work is done. It is quite emotional, says Kim Grøndahl Lorenzen, Italy Site Manager for Tyra Redevelopment at TotalEnergies EP Denmark.

The 122-meter-long and 36-meter-wide barge was located at the quay to get loaded with the large Tyra II utility and living quarters’ module. 5400 tons of steel, technology, walls, rooms, furniture, hospital, fitness, and control rooms etc. in 7 floors with a helideck on top.

It’s the new home for the future crew on Tyra II. Here they will live and work for up to three weeks at a time out in the North Sea. Now the last screws are tightened, and the last paint is applied to the 32.5-meter-high module, which has then been carefully sea fastened so that it arrives safely at the Tyra field in the Danish North Sea.

This has also put an end to almost 4 years of building the new Tyra II home. A total of 2.8 million working hours that Kim and his team have spent at the yard in Italy.

– For a lot of people down here, it means a lot. It’s not just a job, it fills a large part of their lives over some intense years where such a large project unfolds. It (the Tyra II home) feels like “our baby”. I’ve been involved in creating these kinds of “babies” before – but they’ve never been as big as this one. That is why this is also very special, and I am happy and proud of what the team has accomplished, says Kim.

From 16 February 2022 onwards, the new Tyra II utility and living quarters were put on wheels and then rolled onto the H-408 barge. It is a big job that requires a thorough preparation and precision in the execution. Along the way, a changing water level in the harbor had to be taken into account, which made it challenging to keep the enormous construction completely stable when the many wheels underneath where both on land and on the barge at the same time.

Now that the new Tyra II home has started its journey, it will about 25 days until the reach the North Sea. Upon arrival, the module will be lifted from the barge and carefully lowered onto the jackets by world’s largest crane vessel Sleipnir

– It will of course be a crucial time when the 5400 tons are lifted off and put in place. Then we must hope that it fits exactly on the new jackets at the Tyra field, laughs Kim.

In the last period before the sail-away, a number of tests have been run to make sure that things work.

– We have stress tested all the parts of the module which we have been able to. This applies to everything from the wastewater system, the emergency power system, communication equipment and the kitchen. We did it partly to be sure that everything works, but also because it is of course easier to get things fixed while we are still on land, rather than offshore, says Kim.

The majority of the TotalEnergies EP Denmark employees who worked on the project will either return to Denmark or the companies in the countries to which they belong. Some of them will also follow along and be part of the installation, hook-up, and operations of the new Tyra II.

According to the plan, all parts of the new Tyra II will be delivered to the field during this year and production will resume as soon as the redevelopment is completed.