Graduation assignment: Use of temporary buoyancy to expand draught range for heavy lifting with SSCV’s

A unique maritime adventure awaits with Heerema Marine Contractors

Your role in the story

Are you a final-year student with a passion for offshore engineering and looking for a graduation assignment that can make real impact? Kick-start your career with a graduation project in the heart of marine engineering with strong links to structural engineering and naval architecture. As a graduation student, you’ll dive into a challenging assignment that contributes to potential future developments. You'll be guided by experienced engineers and exposed to the practical world of offshore engineering, from concept development to project execution.

What’s the challenge

Heerema Marine Contractors Semi-Submersible Crane Vessels (SSCVs) can operate in challenging wave conditions due to their design. Inherently their lift capacity reduces when the vessels need to operate at shallower draught than for what they are designed due to buoyancy and ballasting limitations. As there is demand for heavy lifts in shallow water, HMC is interested in solutions to increase lift capacity whilst working at floater draught. Especially a solution that pertains the addition of buoyancy temporarily for lifts in shallow water is appealing.

Your mission & goals

The goal of the assignment is to make a conceptual design of a body or bodies that adds sufficient buoyancy to attain maximum lift capacity at floater draught. Challenges envisaged are amongst others:

• The connection between the body or bodies providing the buoyancy (how to instate the buoyancy and make it stay in place),
• The structural implications for the SSCV itself (the vessel is what it is and avoiding big modifications is preferred),
• Maximum wave conditions for operating in this so called “added buoyancy mode” (a solution needs to be robust).

The end goal is a report capturing the design and the options considered and evaluated. Design requirements adopted, modelling considerations, limitations and calculations will obviously be documented as well.

What you’ll gain

During this assignment you will gain experience in a conceptual design process, balancing various requirements and boundary conditions. To quantify loads and behavior of a SSCV with temporary buoyancy, you will use various numerical tools. Furthermore, this assignment enables you to get acquainted with how it is to work in the offshore industry.

Is this you?

• You are currently pursuing an MSc in Offshore, Maritime, Mechanical, Civil, or a related Engineering field
• You have a keen interest in floating offshore structures, dynamics, and conceptual design
• You have basic knowledge of hydromechanics, stability of floating bodies, and finite element methods
• You are comfortable communicating in English, the official written language within the company

Practical Information

Start date: start 2026 (flexible upon agreement)

Duration: 6-9 months

Location: Leiden

What we offer

• A meaningful assignment aligned with your academic goals
• Guidance from experienced engineers and sustainability experts
• Access to cutting-edge tools and vessel data systems
• A monthly internship allowance
• Potential career opportunities within HMC

Ready to graduate with impact? Apply now and take the first step toward your offshore engineering career!

We are looking forward to hearing from you. We are interested in your CV, but we mainly want to find out more about your ambitions, your personality, and what is your motivation to succeed. So be sure to include a brief cover letter explaining why you are the perfect fit for this graduation assignment. You’ll hear from us no later than the end of October.

So hit the button, apply, and make the impossible possible with Heerema. We’d love to meet you!

If you feel that you can help us make the impossible possible, you are welcome to send us an open application.