Bligh Bank News

Leading marine service provider, Marine and Towage Services Group Ltd. (MTS) has supported shipbuilder Damen during sea trials of its latest offshore cabling vessel, Maersk Connector. During the two-week testing period, MTS Vigilant, a Damen Shoalbuster, undertook essential anchor handling work to test the capabilities of the new vessel’s advanced mooring systems ahead of her handover to end client Maersk Supply Service and charterer DeepOcean. Current and anticipated growth in the offshore energy sector throughout European waters continues to drive demand for versatile subsea support vessels to carry out critical cable laying and interconnection work.

A newbuild DP2 cable installation vessel, Maersk Connector, was handed over from Damen Shipyards Group to Maersk Supply Service on February 4, 2016, and now goes directly on a long-term charter for subsea services provider DeepOcean. Built at Damen Shipyards Galati in Romania, Maersk Connector is the second of a new generation of cable-laying vessels based on the Damen Offshore Carrier (DOC) 8500 platform, customized to meet the challenges of reducing offshore renewables costs, the builder said.

Yesterday senior representatives of Maersk Supply Service, DeepOcean UK and the Damen Shipyards Group who gathered at Damen Shipyards Galati, Romania witnessed the launching of subsea support vessel Maersk Connector. The vessel is owned and operated by Maersk Supply Service and is built to contract for a seven year charter agreement with DeepOcean. Maersk Connector is the second of a new generation of cable-laying vessels developed by the Damen Shipyards Group. Equipped with survey and trenching capabilities, she will extend DeepOcean’s capabilities in the larger cable-laying end of the market, representing a new focus on interconnector projects in addition to oil and gas sector and renewables work.

Turbine Transfers Ltd will increase its fleet to 20 vessels by the end of 2011. With the fast growing development of major offshore wind farms in Britain, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Denmark, Captain Mark Meade of Anglesey UK-based Holyhead Towing, has seen the potential for larger fleets of crew transfer vessels dedicated to the offshore wind farm industry. Often customers now require four or five boats at the larger and further offshore sites, and that demand cannot easily be supplied by the smaller companies in the field.

Ballast Nedam's heavy lift vessel Svanen left the port of Rotterdam last weekend. The Svanen has been commissioned by Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors to drive 56 steel piles for the foundations of the Belwind offshore wind farm off the coast of Zeebrugge (Belgium). This is the first phase of the Belwind project, which will eventually encompass a total of 110 wind turbines. Once the project is completed the 110 wind turbines will supply power to approximately 350,000 households, meaning a reduction of 540,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. The offshore wind farm is located on Bligh Bank, a sand bank 46 kilometres from the Belgian coast where the sea has a depth of 15 to 37 meters.