The Flexiport : A Triumph for British Initiative, Design and Cooperation

(Falkland Islands Newsletter, No.20, August 1984)

On Thursday, 26th April 1984, Major General Keith Spacie, Military Commissioner and Commander British Forces Falkland Islands, took delivery, on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, of a new £20 million floating port and warehouse complex, known as the 'Flexiport'.

For nearly two years, the chief critics of the Government's policy of defending the Falkland Islands have concentrated their attacks on the cost to the British taxpayer.  The construction of the new airport at Mount Pleasant, which is now progressing well up to schedule, will soon permit the Falklands garrison to be greatly reduced in size, yet to be speedily reinforced using  wide bodied jets to fly in troops at a moment of crisis.  The second cost saving measure envisaged a floating harbour: the aim was to reduce the number of cargo and stores ships supporting the garrison, by eliminating some of those vessels employed, lying idle at Stanley, and to turn round quickly those delivering supplies and stores, saving time, armed services' labour and demurrage.

Last year the British Government went out to tender, requiring a completion time of about five months from the award of a contract for the harbour, with stiff penalty clauses.  The provision of work in unemployment blackspots was a major factor.  Against tough opposition the contract was awarded, last October, to I.T.M. (Offshore) Limited of Middlesborough, fulfilling for the first time an idea developed by their special project team four years ago.  The plan involved using six flat top barges joined together, moored to piles and linked to the shore by a causeay.  I.T.M. (Offshore) Limited are heavy lift specialists with extensive experience in North Sea Oil support operations.

The Complex

The Falklands Intermediate Port and Storage System (FIPASS), to give its correct name, consists of six linked standard North Sea oil rig support barges, each of 300 feet in length and 90 feet width, each supporting a quay and moored to dolphins.

Four of the barges carry warehouses, offering 10,000 cubic feet of space for more than 16,000 different items, ranging from office desks to vehicle engines, with provision for refrigerated storage.  In addition there are accommodation offices, which include a galley and messing facility for 200 persons.

The 623 feet long causeway, projecting at right angles to the shore, is joined, via a ramp, to the quay at the seaward end by a linkspan (a seventh barge), which, being itself at right angles to the Flexiport's quay, provides a landing area for roll-on, roll-off ramps of vessels.  The causeway, made up of five sections each mounted via columns to a grounded pontoon, is connected by a second ramp to the shore.  The dimensions of the linkspan and the causeway are large enough to permit two way traffic up to 30 tons laden weight, and the linkspan is also large enough for turning vehicles.

The Flexiport is capable of accepting vessels up to 1,000 feet in length and is designed to withstand winds of 100 knots and 5 feet waves.

Subcontracts

Whilst the six huge barges all came from I.T.M.'s existing fleet, they put out to subcontract some other essential parts of the Flexiport.  MacGregor Navire, a large multinational firm, designed and supplied the linkspan and causeway, in itself a remarkable piece of engineering.  Another multinational, Nuttal, provided the piled dolphins.  Belfast shipbuilders, Harland and Wolff, prefabricated the accommodation and storage facilities on the barges.

However, it was not all plain sailing for I.T.M., coordinating the effort, striving to meet the time schedule: soon after the contract had been signed Sunderland Shipbuilders, one of the original subcontractors with £6 million share in the project and with whom it had been working closely, had to pull out due to a strike by 1,800 workers at its three Wear shipyards, and another subcontractor had to be found quickly.

Completion on Time

As the sections of the Flexiport became ready in the United Kingdom, they were shipped the 8,000 miles out to Port Stanley in three main loads.  To do this two Norwegian special semi-submersible heavy lift 30,060 tons deadweight ships the Dyvi Swan and the Dyvi Teal were employed: these had the capability of 'sinking themselves' and floating the barges from their decks.  The first load left the Belfast shipyard of Harland and Wolff on the Dyvi Swan last December and the final sections left on the Dyvi Teal at the end of March.

Meanwhile sappers from 37 Regiment Royal Engineers, fighting against time and weather, carved through peat, clay and rock to construct a new road to meet the end of the causeway, 1 1/2 miles east of Stanley.  It took 4,000 tons of quartzite rock, 650 tons of sand and hundreds of tons of cement shipped out from Britain.

Finally a 20 strong team of British engineers from I.T.M. linked the barges to their supports, previously driven into the sea in about 20 feet of water, and assembled the 623 feet causeway, making the connection to the shore.

The whole work was completed within the five month time limit specified by the Ministry of Defence and to the specified cost of £23 million.  The achievement of I.T.M., their largest contract to date, has generated considerable interest across the world, since the Flexiport concept has as many civil applications as it has military.

Cost Saving

 For about eighteen months the 10,000 tons deadweight M.V. Tor Caledonia had been lying in Port Stanley as floating stores for military equipment.  The refrigerated ships Avelona Star and Andalucia Star, also each of nearly 10,000 tons deadweight, had operated a two month rotation as ration ships for the military, taking it in turns to lie at anchor in the harbour for weeks, while their stores were gradually consumed.  All three have now been released by the Ministry of Defence and returned to normal trade.

Instead of a small ration ship arriving at the Falklands every eight weeks, small ships will now be used, probably arriving twice a month, and are expected to be able to discharge their cargo within three or four days and lave.  This compares well with the three weeks it often used to take to unload a ship anchored in the harbour using mexifloats.

It has been estimated that the new complex will save the British taxpayer between £12,000 and £15,000 per day, and the Ministry of Defence have said that the Flexiport is expected to pay for itself in a year.

The Flexiport is now under the command of the Army's 480 strong Falklands Logistic Batallion, formed from the logistic units in the Task Force on 28th June, 1982, and will be controlled from the offices of the harbour master.  Latest reports from the Falkland Islands are that Port Stanley now looks rather empty.

This article first appeared in the Falkland Islands Newsletter, Edition 20, August 1984.  The Falkland Islands Association is an independent organisation which brings together those who support the continuing freedom of the people of the Falkland Islands.  Its Constitution states that its objectives are to assist the people of the Falkland Islands to decide their own future for themselves without being subjected to pressure direct or indirect from any quarter.  

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