ABS takes a look at next-gen OSVs
Written by Nick Blenkey
What’s the future for offshore service vessels? ABS describes its vision of the next generation of OSVs in a new publication launched at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), which is taking place in Houston this week.
Called “Insights into Future OSV Designs and Operations,” the publication paints a picture of vessels that will be carbon neutral, fully digitalized, highly automated and configured to provide clear operational visibility and the ability to track vessels, cargo, equipment and people around the clock.
What’s just as interesting as the publication’s insights into the technology is its overview of where the next-gen OSVs will work, including the renewables sector, deep sea mining, carbon capture and storage, launch and recovery of space vehicles, decommissioning of structures and more.
ABS says the future offshore service vessel will be multi-functional – equipped to serve multiple offshore sectors — with larger accommodation spaces, heavy-lift cranes, helidecks and streamlined hull forms, all designed to perform complex support operations.
Another design concept is for an OSV “mothership” that would be crewed, but also house a fleet of autonomous surface vessels, ROVs and autonomous underwater vehicles used for operations such as repair and maintenance, cargo distribution and subsea inspections.
“ABS has a proud record of supporting innovations in OSV design, most recently with ‘tri-fuel’ vessels. We understand how the evolution of these vessels is only just beginning and there is an exciting future ahead: connected, sustainable, increasingly autonomous, multi-functional and highly capable of adapting to serve a variety of use cases. We are now working with leading OSV designers and operators to deliver on this potential,” said Matt Tremblay, ABS Vice President, Global Offshore.
