The eagle eyed Captain Jan Plug spied this unusual vessel out in Brazilian waters. It is the 2018 built SeaLoader 1 which is to be hired by Total for the task of providing support for FPSO discharge into large tankers. The idea is that this ship will act as an interface between the FPSO and the tanker, so allowing conventional craft to carry out the task rather than DP shuttle tankers which are small (in tanker terms), and expensive. I have seen a number of pictures about how the task will be carried out, and some inadequate descriptions, so no-one has the faintest idea about how the work will be done. We can see the reel on the deck, which would allow the ship to be connected to the offtake tanker, but then what?

Photo taken by Jan Plug on 25th July and posted here on 30th July 2020.