The HEAVYLIFT@SEA dedicated vessel design office decided to partner with the SeaRenergy offshore industry service provider in order to create an all new ship design that will encompass the benefits of both worlds – offshore experience and ship design.
As commented by the designers, the brand new vessel, which will have a length of 72 meters, is going to target efficiency as well as comfort, and is to be developed with a special emphasis on minimizing losses during the course of operation while at the same time having a cost efficient propulsion arrangement (ERN 99,99,99,95) with low levels of fuel consumption and maintenance expenditure.
The ship’s design aims to reduce motion and increase the technicians’ comfort in order to lower the sea sickness factor and weather downtime, especially when regarding the North Sea’s harsh conditions. It is able to provide proper accommodations to a maximum of 60 people via single cabins, embedded in a true passenger ship class vessel, which includes two day rooms, a fitness room and an auditorium.
Image: SeaRenergy Offshore
Maximizing the vessel’s utilization and that of the technicians was a main point of focus for the appointed designers as the new ship concept aims to achieve efficiency in O&M and thus features a design that enables it to remain at its position at a particular location for several weeks, providing more working time and less transit time.
The vessel’s current configuration contributes for an efficient flow of people and spare parts around the ship. The motion compensated gangway, that one can access through the elevator, provides direct access to offshore platforms and wind turbines in major wave heights going up to 2.5 meters, and is prepared for workability at +/- 4.0-meter water levels around MSL. With the vessel’s cargo transfer system, spare parts and other various components of up to 300 kg can be handled without the use of a crane.
The ship comes along with a daughter craft located at a hanger at its stern, which is to be employed as second means of accessing the boat lading of offshore facilities. The hangar itself contributes for an increased level of safety when carrying out operations, especially in conditions of harsh weather.
As commented by the developers of the vessel, the new ship class will also be of interest to investors. According to analyst,s the SOV market’s potential is of 25 - 40 SOVs till the year 2020 while expectations for the Offshore Wind are for it to grow to 23.5 GW, thus tripling current levels of installed capacity by 2020.