Damen to build wind farm support vessel on spec

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014 — Damen Shipyards Group,Gorinchem, the Netherlands, says that the final touches have been made to its Walk 2 Work offshore windfarm support vessel and that it will start building it on speculation.

The vessel is a monohull with bridge located amidships. It has a length of 90 m and a beam of 20 m. It will offer 500 sq.m of deck space, approximately 400 sq.m of internal storage space and will feature a helicopter platform and a motion and heave compensating crane and gangway. Its shallow draft optimizes comfort, while also providing significant power savings.

The vessel will support and accommodate wind turbine maintenance crews at sea for voyages of up to one month and has an 80% weather operability in the Central North Sea Area.

Key design criteria for the vessel included the “E3” considerations of being Environmentally-friendly, Economic viable, and Efficient in operation, but with staff retention a growing issue in the offshore market a fourth requirement was the comfort of crew andpassengers.

The optimal comfort for crew and passengers is determined by designing the right hull form and the right positioning of the accommodation. Damen has been able to reduce vertical and horizontal accelerations significantly. A significant reduction of accelerations has been achieved throughout the vessel up to 30% in the accommodations. This achievement greatly improves the level of comfort, safety and workability on board.

As a result of this design effort, the vessel performs well within the motion criteria as set by the industry.