Damen designs SATV specifically tailored for U.S. offshore wind ops

FCS 3410 would be built in the United States

NOVEMBER 26, 2018 — Damen Shipyards Group has designed a Fast Crew Supplier (FCS) 3410 service accommodation and transfer vessel (SATV) incorporating numerous design features tailored for operations in the developing offshore wind market in North America.

The FCS 3410 would be built in the United States. For many years, U.S. partner shipyards have built Damen designs at domestic locations, providing American shipowners with access to Damen’s designs while complying with the requirements of the Jones Act. This process, the Damen Technical Cooperation, ranges from simple licensing up to the delivery of full materials package, including technical support.

Building on the success of Damen designs that have proved themselves in the European renewables market, the FCS 3410 features the Damen Twin Axe bow, allowing the vessel to cut through waves instead of slamming and significantly improves seakeeping and onboard comfort.

Damen’s FCS 2610, which optimized this seakeeping behavior by combining the Axe Bow with a catamaran hull form, has solf over 45 vessels. Damen has recently developed this theme with the FCS 2710 – a new FCS vessel one meter longer than its predecessor and, significantly, with an additional meter in water clearance, enabling the vessel safely extended operational windows.

The new FCS 3410 further develops this evolutionary theme, tailoring the concept to meet the requirements of the emerging U.S. offshore renewables market.

“This vessel is well suited to numerous markets, however, we have given it long endurance capability so that it can remain at sea for up to five days at a time – a requirement typically seen in U.S. operations,” says Daan Dijxhoorn, Damen sales manager U.S. “To facilitate this we have designed a vessel 6 metres longer than previous FCS types, able to host more on board personnel and accommodations.”

The FCS 3410 also draws on the successful Damen Accommodation Support Vessel 9020, a walk-to-work vessel designed for transporting and providing accommodation for offshore personnel for up to a month.

“There’s a real sense that U.S. offshore wind is building momentum,” says Dijxhoorn. “The Black Island Wind Farm off Rhode Island is still the only wind farm in operation off the coast of the USA nearly two years after it opened, but a number of states are pushing ahead with their own plans for offshore renewable energy development.”

Massachusetts currently leads the way in these developments with a target of 1,600 MW generated by wind energy by 2027 and having an 800 MW project planned to begin next year. New York, New Jersey and Maryland also have plans in the pipeline.