Groundbreaking PSV carries hazardous substances
annual conference & awards Winner Support Vessel of the Year
The Support Vessel of the Year was Farstad’s Far Solitaire, which can justifiably be said to be a unique vessel in a number of respects
vessel delivered in the past calendar year which is considered to have set an industry benchmark through innovative design and efficient operation – criteria which the winner amply meets. Delivered in October 2012 and now under a long-term charter with Statoil, Farstad’s UP 754 WP design (the WP stands for wave-piercing) Far Solitaire was developed in response to a perceived need for platform supply vessels (PSVs) to carry larger quantities of chemicals and hazardous and noxious substances on behalf of oil companies. The design of the technologically advanced vessel was developed by Farstad in close co-operation with Rolls-Royce Marine and is the first of its kind ever built. “Over the years, the offshore oil industry has become more and more dependent on chemicals and noxious liquids in order to improve operational efficiency and maintain safety standards. At the same time, restrictions for offshore disposal of the same have become more stringent, for environmental reasons,” Børge Nakken, Vice President – Technology & Development at Farstad, explained. “These liquids need to be transported to and from offshore installations. However, a conventional vessel defined by the rules as a cargo vessel is limited to carrying a maximum of 800m3 of these liquids on board at a time, which often is insufficient.
T
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he Offshore Support Journal Support Vessel of the Year award goes to the owner, designer and builder of an offshore support
Far Solitaire has a wave-piercing hullform
“Working closely with Rolls-Royce, we sought to produce a design that was compliant with IBC Chapter 2 compliant PSV for the safe transportation and handling of noxious liquids above the 800m3 limit,” Mr Nakken explained.
Fitted out by STX OSV at its Langsten yard in
Norway, the hull of Far Solitaire was fabricated at STX OSV’s yard in Tulcea, Romania. Farstad’s PSV is a high capacity vessel with an overall length of 91.6m and a beam of 22.0m. At a design draught of 6.3m the deadweight is 4,200 tonnes, with 3,200 tonnes of cargo permissible on deck. The vessel has a deck area of more than 1,000m2, the length of deck being sufficient to carry four lengths of pipe. The wave-piercing hullform was developed by Rolls-Royce Marine and, externally,
this is designed is
the most striking visual feature of the vessel, which
for optimum seakeeping
capability, improved crew comfort and reduced fuel consumption. However, the key characteristic that distinguishes the UT 754 WP, that is not visible, is the very large capacity for hazardous and noxious liquid cargo in bulk. This capacity has been incorporated into the design without prejudicing its other supply functions.
Thanks to its innovative new design, the UT
754 WP can carry much more than the usual 800m3 limit of hazardous and noxious liquid cargo, as defined by IMO Resolution A.673 (16) – the guidelines that all offshore support vessels have to follow. In practice, this resolution classes drilling mud and brine as hazardous and noxious liquids because they contain chemicals that are listed in the International Bulk Chemical (IBC) code. In order to allow transport on board an offshore
support vessel, the resolution limits the total amount that can be carried to 800m3. The amounts of these chemicals mixed into drilling mud and brine may be small, but they bring the whole volume of mud or brine under the same category. A load of mud and/or brine on a North Sea supply vessel would typically be in the 1,000-1,200 m3 range, which means that either loads have to be cut to less than the 800m3 limit, or a new solution has to be found to allow the desirable amount to be carried per trip while complying with the rules.
The UT 754 WP is that solution. IMO Resolution A.673 (16) states that an increase of the 800m3 limit can be accepted by the flag authority, if the vessel complies with the survivability requirements for chemical tankers, as defined in Chapter 2 of the IBC code. What this means in practice is that the vessel is not actually classed as a chemical tanker, but meets the more extensive damage stability, vessel arrangement and ventilation requirements for chemical tankers, together with other design features. The Norwegian Maritime Authority has approved Far Solitaire for carriage of more than 1,600m3 of noxious liquids of the type that are allowed to be carried on offshore support vessels. In addition, the slop and backload tanks are equipped with hydrogen sulphide (H2S) detection and alarm systems to improve onboard safety. Martijn De Jongh, a designer at Rolls-Royce Marine, explained the layout of the vessel: “Multipurpose rectangular tanks, suitable for mud and drilling brines, are free of internal structural stiffeners, giving an easily-cleaned interior. Five
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