Patent ID: 7641421

Claim:
An offshore vessel ( 1 ), suitable for laying a pipeline on the seabed, comprising: a. a hull ( 2 ) with a working deck ( 3 ); b. a pipeline-laying installation of the S-lay type, with one or more connecting stations on the working deck ( 3 ) for connecting pipe sections in a substantially horizontal orientation; c. a stinger ( 5 ), which projects outside the hull ( 2 ) of the vessel, engages on the hull at a horizontal pivot structure and forms a downwardly directed support for pipeline ( 9 ) moving towards the seabed, d. a hoisting crane ( 20 ), disposed in the vicinity of the same side of the hull as the stinger ( 5 ), wherein the hoisting crane has a vertical structure ( 21 ), wherein the vertical structure ( 21 ) comprises a foot ( 22 ), wherein the foot ( 22 ) is statically fixed to the hull above and vertically aligned with the location where the pipeline ( 9 ) leaves the working deck ( 3 ) and in that a load-bearing connecting structure ( 80 ), which holds the stinger or part of it in a desired position, extends between the vertical structure of the hoisting crane, at a position higher than the point of engagement of the stinger on the vessel hull, and the stinger, at a location remote from the point of engagement of the stinger on the vessel hull.