Acta Marine takes delivery of second walk-to-work vessel

Actor Centaurus alongside at Ulstein Verft (Photo by Benny Banen, Acta Marine)

Den Helder, Netherlands headquartered Acta Marine’s newbuild walk- to-work vessel Acta Centaurus has been delivered on schedule by Norwegian shipbuilder Ulstein and is about to set sail for its first offshore wind assignment.

The 93.4 x 18 m ship is Acta’s second walk-to-work Ulstein construction vessel.

“Building on experience with our first Ulstein walk-to-work construction support vessel, Acta Auriga delivered to us last year, we are highly confident that Acta Centaurus will be very well suited to operate in the offshore, and specifically the renewable market. We will now get ready to bring her out to the offshore wind farm to commence work, says” Acta Marine managing director Rob Boer.

“We know how important it is to get a vessel completed on time. This has been achieved through good cooperation between Acta Marine and Ulstein on all levels” says Kristian Sætre, managing director at Ulstein Verft. “We feel certain that the Acta Centaurus will be a good work platform for the owner and its clients.”

The optimized on-board logistics solutions of this vessel have been developed by considering the flow of people in various work operations. The vessel offers large cargo areas totaling 1,000 sq.m indoors and outdoors, with a container skidding system and ample space for in total 24 containers. All cargo handling is centralized, with stepless transfer to the cargo and personnel lift, and over to the wind turbines or offshore platform.

In addition, Acta Centaurus is fitted with a helideck to further support offshore operations.

The overall logistics and the SMST motion compensated gangway, and integrated elevator tower will secure safe and stepless transfers of people and cargo in significant wave height up to 3 m. Drachten, Netherland, based SMST also delivered the 3D motion compensated knuckle boom crane which can handle 6 tonnes of cargo in sea conditions up to 2.5 m wave height,

Acta Centaurus features state of the art ‘’smart hotel style’’ accommodations for up to 120 persons. Ample office and works spaces are available for charterers. The mess room and lounge area include a library, coffee corner and a game room. The vessel has a sauna and a gym/exercise room and offers very low noise and vibration levels that are rated better than the requirements for DNV-GL comfort level V2 class.

The vessel is equipped with both the Ulstein X-Bow and X-Stern. The X-Bow is important when the vessel is transiting in heavy seas, reducing slamming and vibrations with a positive impact on the well-being of those on board. The X-Stern will provide higher in-field flexibility and improved winter workability. When keeping the stern facing the weather on dynamic positioning (DP) the vessel will be able to stay positioned with lower thruster load, resulting in a lower fuel consumption.