Feature 4 | OFFSHORE WIND FARM SUPPORT VESSELS


capstan; an anchor spool winch; a 210bar, 30litre/minute pressure washer system; a Palfinger PK6500 deck crane; and the hydraulic, Houlder-supplied Turbine Access System (TAS), which serves as a stable platform for crew embarkation / disembarkation at significant wave heights of up to 2m. Additionally, a Cummins Onan AC generator set, rated 13.5kW, supplies the power to Abersoch Bay’s ring main and AC services.


Onboard electronics The wheelhouse has also been kitted out with the first, to date, South Boats Integrated Bridge. Comprising equipment supplied by Boning, and developed in conjunction with MAP and Boats


Electrics & Electronics, the bridge system arrangement provides the vessel with two Furuno radars, full electronic chart display information system (ECDIS) capabilities and a forward looking infrared (FLIR) thermal imaging camera, in addition to control over a 10-channel recording CCTV system, satellite compass, Class A automatic identification system (AIS) and VHF radios. Te crew is able to maintain communications when travelling outside of terrestrial network coverage, courtesy of Iridium’s OpenPort satcomms solution. South Boats has also strengthened


its relationship with Seacat Services, also based on the Isle of Wight, the latter of whom has ordered two further


South Catamaran 24m wind farm support vessels, in addition to two already on order. Altogether, including two 19m models, the total number of Seacat vessels on order at South Boats comes to six. The recently ordered 24m vessels, provisionally named Seacat Defender and Seacat Volunteer, will be constructed to the aforementioned DNV wind farm standard, with Rolls-Royce 56A3 waterjets intended to grant each a top speed in excess of 28knots. The newly announced Seacat duo will also be capable of carrying 10 3ft containers. The first vessels of the six-strong order, the 19m Seacat Endeavour and Seacat Reliance, are due for delivery in May and June this year, respectively. SBI


Voith and SCHRAMM measure up new wind farm support boat design


Companies claim longer hull is the only option if operators wish to safely embark turbine technicians at significant wave heights of more than 2m.


S


hip propulsion manufacturer Voith is working in tandem with SCHRAMM, a fellow German


consortium of marine technology suppliers, to develop a new offshore wind farm crew transfer vessel design, capable of safely transferring technicians at significant wave heights of up to 2.5m. A spokesperson for Voith tells Ship &


Boat International that the plan, admittedly “ambitious”, is to achieve stable transfers at such wave heights via the combination of a longer hull form and a recognised ship-to- turbine access system. He adds that the group considers most current offshore wind farm support vessels sized between 20-25m to be impractical for this goal, and that the new vessel design, monikered the Voith Offshore Shuttle, will instead feature a hull length of approximately 39m, or 37m on the waterline. An evaluation of seaway data for wind farms in the North and Baltic Seas, conducted jointly by Voith and SCHRAMM, demonstrates that a single-hulled vessel with a length of between 30-35m would be better suited to meeting wind farm operators’ demands


44


than many existing, smaller boats on the market, Voith claims. The Voith Offshore Shuttle, which


would be customised per contract, to suit individual operators’ requirements, is tentatively scheduled to feature a moulded breadth of 8.75m and a moulded depth of 3.9m, with a top speed of 15knots and the ability to accommodate six members of crew and anywhere between 12-24 technicians. Class society Germanischer


Lloyd has already granted the vessel prototype Hull  100A5 RSA (200) E and Machinery  MC-AUT E notation. Te Voith Offshore Shuttle is most likely to be powered by twin Caterpillar CAT 3508 C engines, each rated 820kW at 1600rpm, with Voith supplying two Voith Schneider Propeller (VSP) 18R5 EC /150-1 propulsion units and an inline bow thruster per unit. Te company confirms that it is awaiting its first customer and order. SBI


The proposed Voith Offshore Shuttle, in its basic form; customers would be able to customise the vessel to suit their requirements.


Ship & Boat International March/April 2012


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