Early Application:

The first several decades of floatover were limited to projects where the lift option was not pracitcal:

• Remote Locations: Regions where lift vessel mobilization was not possible or cost prohibitive
• Heavy Topsides: Deck weights in excess of available lift capacity, requiring multiple modules and extensive offshore hookup.

Long mobilizations and multiple module lifts strongly favored floatover in schedule and price. However, as the method matured it application has expanded to nearly all regions of the world.

Now, floatover has become recognized by many companies as the base case for installations for several reasons:

• Safety: Consequences of failures are reduced as the Topsides is always multiply supported between the transport vessel and substructure. Further, there is no interim configuration between transport and installation (installed using transport vessel).
• Schedule: Overall schedules are shorter, as even large decks can be installed fully commissioned, rather than by multiple module lifts and the number and flexibility of installation vessels is greater than for lifting.
• Economics: Total installed cost have generally been less, as floatover structural designs become more efficient on steel, there may be no increase in platform cost with floatover.
• Late Decision: Now may employ, OKI Pontoon or Dockwise Catamaran method directly against a lift with no leg configuration change, allowing a later term decision between lift or floatover.

Combined these advantages have resulted in floatover expanding to almost all parts of the world for decks as light as 1,500 T with no definite upper limit on weight or allowable seastate.