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The vessels are scheduled for delivery in the second and third quarters of 2012. The hulls will be built at the Braila shipyard in Romania, and outfitted in Brevik, Norway. The total value of the contracts amounts to approximately NOK 900 million (about $143 million).
The vessels are of Rolls-Royce UT776 CDG design. Island Offshore has four UT776’s in service and two more under construction. The vessels just ordered at STX Offshore Norway will be the first for Island Offshore to be LNG-fueled and, in fact, the first LNG fueled UT vessels designed and powered by Rolls-Royce.
“We are extremely happy with the performance of these UT vessels, as are our clients,” said Island Offshore Managing Director Håvard Ulstein. “A very important area for Island Offshore is reduction in fuel consumption. With the UT 776, the favourable hull lines contribute to a very low consumption rate over a wide range of operating drafts. We believe that the most significant contribution to reducing emissions is to reduce fuel consumption for a given amount of work done. Going for LNG fuel is a logical step in reducing emissions even further.”
Rolls-Royce has worked for several years developing designs and systems for offshore vessels using LNG as fuel.
Rolls-Royce has developed a gas-electric diesel-electric propulsion system for the new vessel. The effective capacity of the gas tanks is about 200 cu.m, corresponding to 10-20 day operation on gas alone depending on the exact operational profile. The gas engines are two of the new C26:33 series from Rolls-Royce.
“Now that more gas infrastructure is in place, it is realistic for customers to select this fuel and these designs and systems” commented Atle Gaasø,Rolls-Royce’s General Manager Sales for offshore service vessels. “We are very happy to be working with Island Offshore, as they are a very forward-thinking company with a strong focus on efficiency and the environment, as they have already shown with their pioneering Rolls-Royce designed well intervention vessels.”
“The UT 776 type has seen continued development from order to order, with our newest vessels building upon the experience and lessons learned from our earlier ones. By choosing this design we have managed to maintain high levels of standardization, and continue the good cooperation on design and equipment we have with Rolls-Royce. The current design sets a standard that we think will do very well for the future,” added Håvard Ulstein.
The new UT776 CDG is 96 m long with a beam of 20 m, and will transport all normal offshore supplies. The ship will also be equipped for oil recovery. Deadweight is approximately 4,750 t
Roy Reite, President of STX Norway Offshore, says: “We appreciate the good relations we have with Island Offshore, and that this cooperation once again has led to the building of new vessels. We have in total been awarded more than thirty new building contracts with Island Offshore, and we look forward to continuing the good cooperation.”
More than a year in development, the Twin Axe HSSV design is a further development of Damen’s successful Sea Axe concept and the HSSV 2610 is particularly suited for offshore wind industry support.
Martijn Smit, Damen Sales Manager for Europe, says: “Given the tremendous potential growth in the offshore wind industry there is a great need for vessels to access turbines and this can often be in constraining weather conditions. We were driven to find a concept that improves on conventional catamaran designs.”
Managing Director of Marineco UK, Mike Conafray, adds: “As a company we have been monitoring the current vessels available that service the offshore wind farms but we never felt comfortable joining in with the existing vessels. When Damen came along to us with their proposals we quickly realized that by introducing them we would be able to offer the market a much enhanced vessel that would suit most of its needs.”
The Damen HSSV 2610 has been undergoing thorough testing at Delft University in the Netherlands.
“There have been ‘stunning’ results in the vessel’s seakeeping behavior, resistance and at the same time, it has much lower fuel consumption,” Mr. Smit says, adding that the design is an extension of the Damen enlarged ship concept.
“The raised work deck and sea axe bows enable the vessel to keep up its speed in a higher sea state and that is crucial for the offshore industry. And as many of the wind turbines will be located in challenging seas, this greatly extends the operating window.”
The new vessel has dimensions of 26 m x 10 m. It has accommodations for four crew and can transport 12 passengers.
Features include a 20 tm deck crane, a spacious diving platform, HP cleaning unit and extra mooring winches.
The vessel is thus suited for a diverse range of activities for supporting and supplying the offshore wind industry, as well as the wider offshore sector. Ample working and storage space on deck make it suitable for a variety of cargoes, including containers.
With a fuel capacity of 12,000 liters, t can be used tio transfer fuel to wind turbines.
Classed by Bureau Veritas, the vessel operates under the Workboat Code, Category 1.
Depending on the sea state, the maximum speed will be 26 knots with a range of 640 nm.
Currently under construction at Damen Gorinchem in the Netherlands, the vessel is expected to be ready by June 2011.
