MV Mont

Knock Nevis in the Dubai Drydocks
Career
Name:	Mont (2009-2010) Knock Nevis (2004-2009) Jahre Viking (1991–2004) Happy Giant (1989–1991) Seawise Giant (1979–1989)
Owner:	Amber Development Corp (2009-2010) First Olsen Tankers Pte. Ltd. (2004-2009) Loki Stream AS
Operator:	Prayati Shipping (2009-2010)
Port of registry:	Template:SLE (2009-2010) Template:NOR (1979-2009)
Builder:	Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan
Out of service:	2009
Identification:	DNV ID:16864 IMO number: 7381154
Fate:	Scrapped 2010
Notes:
General characteristics
Tonnage:	260,941 GT 214,793 NT
Displacement:	81,879 long tons light ship 646,642 long tons full load
Length:	458.45 m (1,504.10 ft)
Beam:	68.8 m (225.72 ft)
Draught:	24.611 metres (80.74 ft)
Depth:	29.8 m (97.77 ft)
Propulsion:	Steam Turbine
Speed:	16 knots
Capacity:	564,763 DWT
Notes:

MV Mont, formerly Knock Nevis, Seawise Giant, Happy Giant, and Jahre Viking, was a ULCC supertanker, last used as a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) moored off the coast of Qatar in the Persian Gulf at the Al Shaheen Oil Field. She was the longest ship ever built, and possessed the greatest deadweight tonnage ever recorded. Fully laden, her displacement was 657,019 tonnes (646,642 LT; 724,239 ST), the heaviest of any ship of any kind, and with a draft of 24.6 m (81 ft), she was incapable of navigating the English Channel, the Suez Canal or the Panama Canal. Overall, she was generally considered the largest ship ever built.

The vessel was sold to Indian ship breakers, and renamed Mont for her final journey in December 2009. After clearing Indian customs, she was sailed to, and intentionally beached at Alang, Gujarat, India for demolition.

History

Knock Nevis was built in 1979 by Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. at their Oppama shipyard in Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan, and christened Oppama when the Greek owner failed to take delivery.

File:Bateaux comparaison2.svg

Size comparison of some of the longest ships. From top to bottom: Knock Nevis, Emma Mærsk, RMS Queen Mary 2, MS Berge Stahl, and USS Enterprise (CVN-65).

The shipyard exercised its right to sell the vessel and a deal was brokered with Hong Kong Orient Overseas Container Line founder C. Y. Tung to lengthen the ship by several metres and add 87,000 metric tons of cargo capacity through jumboisation. Two years later she was relaunched as Seawise Giant.

After the refit, the ship had a capacity of 564,763 metric tons deadweight (DWT), a length overall of 458.45 metres (1,504.1 ft) and a draft of 24.611 metres (80.74 ft). She had 46 tanks, 31,541 square metres (339,500 sq ft) of deck space, and drew too much water to pass through the English Channel.

Damaged during the Iran–Iraq War by Iraqi air force while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, and carrying Iranian crude oil, she sank and was declared a total loss Shortly after Iran-Iraq war, Norman International bought the wreckage of the ship, had her refloated and repaired her. She was renamed "Happy Giant" after the repairs. These repairs were done at the Keppel Company shipyard in Singapore after towing her from Persian Gulf. She entered service in October 1991 as the Happy Giant. Jørgen Jahre bought the tanker in 1991 for US$39 million and renamed her Jahre Viking. From 1991 to 2004, she was owned by Loki Stream AS and flew the Norwegian flag. In 2004, she was bought by First Olsen Tankers Pte. Ltd., renamed Knock Nevis, and converted into a permanently moored storage tanker in the Qatar Al Shaheen oil field in the Persian Gulf.

Knock Nevis was renamed Mont, and reflagged with Sierra Leone by her new owners Amber Development Corporation, for a single voyage to India in January 2010 where she was scrapped. Her 36 tonne anchor was saved and sent to the Hong Kong Maritime Museum for exhibition.

Size record

File:Building and ship comparison2.svg

Size comparison of the Knock Nevis (in red) and other ships and buildings:      The Pentagon, 431 m      RMS Queen Mary 2, 345 m      USS Enterprise (CVN-65), 342 m      Hindenburg, 245 m      Yamato, 263 m      Empire State Building, 443 m      Knock Nevis tanker, 458 m

Knock Nevis was the longest ship ever constructed, longer than the height of many of the world's tallest buildings. Though slightly smaller than Taipei 101 at 509.2 metres (1,671 ft) and the Sears Tower at 527.3 metres (1,730 ft) from street level to top of antenna, she is larger than the Petronas Twin Towers at 452 metres (1,483 ft).

In spite of its great length, the Knock Nevis is not the largest ship by gross tonnage, ranking fifth at 236,710 GT, behind the four 274,838 to 275,276 GT Batillus-class supertankers, the largest self-propelled objects ever constructed.

Knock Nevis was featured on the BBC series, Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson while she was under way as Jahre Viking. The captain claimed it could go 16 to 16 1/2 knots in good weather, that it took 8,000 meters (5 1/2 miles) to stop from that speed, and that the turning circle was about two miles.

See also

• List of world's longest ships
• Freedom Ship

Further reading

• Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics. "ISL Market Analysis" (PDF). Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics. pp. 3. http://www.isl.org/products_services/publications/pdf/comment_1-2-2005_short.pdf. Retrieved 4 June 2010. 
• Watt, Nick (4 January 2007). "Skipper Shortage: Supply Not Keeping Pace". Nightline. ABC News. http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Story?id=4087781&page=1. Retrieved 5 April 2008. 
• Clarkson Research Studies Ltd. (1987). Tanker Register 1987. International Publication Service. ISBN 0800241436. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[[Commons: Category:Knock Nevis

| Knock Nevis

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• MV Knock Nevis (classification) at the Det Norske Veritas Exchange.
• United States Coast Guard (USCG). "Jahre Viking". Port State Information Exchange. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. http://psix.uscg.mil/PSIX/PSIXDetails.aspx?VesselID=370263. 
• Video of Jahre Viking
• Mont at shipbreakers