Several deep water floating production facilities are currently in operation worldwide, with many more planned for the future. As part of such projects, there is a trend for the transportation of increasingly large and high-value assets through long distances. The paper describes some of the main engineering issues that need to be addressed to ensure safety and reliability during such transportations as well as some aspects that deserve future investigation and improvement. Although the emphasis of the paper is on production units, the issues dealt with here are also applicable to other major structures such as semi-submersible mobile drilling units, jack-ups, bridge sections, etc. The work is relevant to stakeholders involved in such transportations namely shipyards, oil companies, drilling rig owners, dry transportation vessel owners, government agencies, insurance interests and marine warranty surveyors.
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