Patent ID: 7681511

Claim:
System for loading and unloading of hydrocarbons in waters with varying conditions, changing from demanding ice conditions, such as unbroken ice or packed ice and/or drifting ice which may change direction quickly, to open sea state where the vessel is exposed to large waves and very strong wind, an icebreaking vessel moored to a sea bed and where a tanker by means of at least one hawser is moored with its bow to the aft end of the icebreaker either at a distance from the icebreaker in situations without influence from the ice, or in physical contact with the icebreaker in situation when ice is present, charaterized in that the icebreaker is moored to the sea bed by means of a turret buoy, the turret buoy comprising a riser for conveying hydrocarbons to the icebreaker, a submergible floating body and a mooring system, mooring the turret buoy to the sea bed by means of several anchor lines, the icebreaker being configured in such way that it is allowed to rotate with respect to the turret buoy, dependent upon the direction of waves, tidal streams, ice and wind, that said at least one hawser extend between a winch on the deck of one of the vessels to the other vessel in order to moor the tanker to the icebreaker, means in the form of at least one hose and valve system for transferring hydrocarbons from the icebreaker to the tanker, said at least one hose being configured to hang freely above the sea and ice level, the at least one hose being either suspended from a drum on the aft deck of the icebreaker, or suspended from a boom arranged on the aft deck of the icebreaker, means for preventing ice from coming into contact with the turret and/or the riser, and with releasable hose connections between the turret to the ice breaker and between the icebreaker and the tanker, so that loading operations of hydrocarbons quickly may be aborted, avoiding the possibilities of oil pollutions.