yard profile
Nordic Yards focussing on ice ships
German shipbuilder Nordic Yards is designing a range of ice- breaking multipurpose vessels, PSVs and emergency response and rescue ships for all-year-round polar operations
by Martyn Wingrove
exploration in the Arctic. So far, exploration and development work has centred on areas that are ice-free in the summer months but that ice over in winter. With this in mind, German group Nordic
H
Yards has designed a family of OSVs with ice- breaking capabilities and features designed to enable them to operate in cold climates. Nordic Yards is using experienced gained from designing and building an Arctic shuttle tanker to do so. “We are developing three different designs
of OSVs for Arctic operations – multipurpose, emergency response, and straight supply vessels. Ship
operators are participating in tender
processes for oil company requirements, and we are offering our designs,” said Nordic Yards’ senior sales manager Hauke Siert. “Operator requirements are growing and the number of vessels needed is increasing,” he explained, noting that tenders have recently been issued for an Arctic emergency rescue response vessel (ERRV) and ice-breaking supply vessel. Requirements are likely to be coming from Statoil, which is planning to develop oilfields in the Barents Sea, and from shipowners who could be providing OSVs to support Russian Arctic projects. The long awaited Shtokman gas project is just one of the potential opportunities for OSV owners. Others could come from the recently signed strategic co-operation agreements between ExxonMobil and Rosneft, and between Eni and Rosneft for joint exploration of oil and gas in Russian Arctic regions. In North America, there are likely to be OSV employment opportunities offshore Alaska and in Canada. Requirements are also being generated for vessels capable of working
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igh oil prices and the need to find new reserves have encouraged energy companies to increase investment in
off western Greenland.
“Support vessels for areas such as these will need ice-breaking capabilities and equipment for oil spill response,” said Mr Siert. “Emergency response and rescue vessels operating throughout the year in Arctic areas will also need to have ice-breaking performance, which our Nordic ERRV design will have.” With a length overall of 97m, Nordic Yard’s
Nodic IB-ERRV has hull lines that are optimised for excellent ice-breaking performance, good seakeeping behaviour and enhanced manoeuvrability for good ice management capability. The design has fully winterised deck equipment and can act as a rescue vessel for 350 survivors. It is also fitted with firefighting equipment and oil spill response equipment, and equipped to conduct surveillance of icebergs, and if necessary tow them away from an offshore installation. “We also have an ice-breaking PSV concept with dynamic positioning capability,” he explained. “To remain operating in Arctic areas throughout the year, PSVs will need DP2 and hulls that are optimised for seagoing and ice- going operations. “We have a concept design team that is designing their hull lines for both open water and ice operations. We are also designing winterised topsides for these vessels. The Nordic IB-PSV is 100m overall and also has optimised hull lines for excellent ice breaking capability, excellent seakeeping behaviour and is intended to operate as a DP2 class vessel. The IB-PSV has cargo tanks for a range of cargo including barite, bentonite and cement and can also carry fuel oil, brine, and drilling mud. The vessel is also capable of providing a standby capability for 200 survivors and has firefighting capability. Nordic Yards is also working on an ice-
class multipurpose vessel design with high ice-breaking capabilities to meet future requirements, said Mr Siert. These vessels would be able to support subsea construction operations, deploy ROVs, tow rigs and provide logistics services. They may also be used as ERRVs. The Nordic multi-role vessel (MRV) is 110m in length. It is capable of icebreaking in level ice of up to 1.8m, and operation in broken ice up of to 2.0m. It is designed for iceberg towing, clearance and surveillance and for operations using remotely operated vehicles and remotely operated tools. It is also capable of firefighting, if required. Nordic Yards does not have any OSV orders
from its ice-class designs yet, but is hopeful that this will change. However, it is active in the offshore renewables industry, building substations for German offshore wind projects. The yard has also developed designs for an innovative offshore wind turbine installation vessel. The company has two shipyards, in Wismar
and Rostock-Warnemünde, Germany, where it has built large commercial ships, OSVs and drilling rigs in the past. Nordic Yards is currently building three transformer platforms for offshore windfarms for Siemens Energy. These are for the BorWin Beta and HelWin Alpha projects and, most recently, the SylWin Alpha project. This latest order will provide the grid connection for the DanTysk and Butendiek offshore windfarms. Nordic Yards is fabricating the jacket and topsides for the transformer platforms
at its Rostock-Warnemünde and
Wismar yards. With an overall height of 80m, breadth of 56m and length of 82m, SylWin Alpha will be the largest transformer platform built to date. More details of Nordic Yards’ innovative designs will follow in subsequent issues of OSJ. OSJ
Profile drawing of Nordic Yard’s icebreaking PSV design Offshore Support Journal I June 2012 I 71
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