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www.marinelink.com MN 49 Hercules Middle East has a new member of the fleet, the vessel, Whale Shark, a 260-ft leg liftboat, designed by A. K. Suda, Inc. of Metairie, La. A. K. Suda based the vessel on its model SUDA 260-L3. It can carry 900 LTons of variable load, including a maximum of 355 tonnes of freshwa- ter, and 102 tonnes of fuel — all this on a hull of 11 ft in depth. The vessel is full SOLAS compliant and has fixed accommodations for 38 per- sons. It can accommodate a much higher complement with temporary housing. Currently it is on location with a total housing for 120 men. Hercules’ management discovered this vessel as a U.S. Coast Guard approved, small footprint large lift- boat, then named LB Joshua. The vessel was brought to the Middle East in 2008 after a brief operating stint in the Gulf of Mexico, and renamed Whale Shark. It was converted to SOLAS and the flag and class were changed to Panama and Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, respectively. This allowed the designer to utilize some of the built-in capacity to increase the maximum allowable vari- able load. One of the most notable challenges was converting the alu- minum deckhouse to meet SOLAS, economically. Hercules hired A. K. Suda, Inc. the original designers to oversee the local design firms in the Middle East to develop the conver- sion drawings. Engineering to increase the variable load capacity turned out to be more complex than originally anticipated. Suda decided to handle that aspect in its head engi- neering office in the U.S. M/V Whale Shark for Hercules Middle East
