Fjellstrand News

Oslo-listed offshore service company Argeo said Friday it would upgrade its subsea vessel, Argeo Searcher, to expand its capabilities for the oil and gas subsea market and marine minerals seabed exploration."The vessel upgrade will be carried out at Fjellstrand, a company with a solid track record and experience in this type of projects. The work will be carried out in October 2023 and is fully financed by the vessel owner. After completion, the Argeo Searcher will be a true multipurpose inspection…

Norwegian offshore shipowner Havila Shipping has won a contract with Equinor for one of its platform supply vessels.The company said Thursday the PSV Havila Clipper would start working rot the Norwegian oil giant in direct continuation of the existing contract."The contract is for a firm period of 70 days with options for 20 days," Havila Shipping said. It did not provide details on the value of the contract.Equinor in February awarded an 8-month contract for the vessel, with four…

As maritime digests a number of historical changes, Norway’s Fjellstrand shipyard wants to put aside the rule book and look at the whole process in a new way, reducing engineering costs up to 70% and production costs up to 20%.The process of designing and building a ship, even in today’s highly standardized mass manufacturing environment, remains largely a one-off, one-of-a-kind design and build. Ships are most often built to a shipowner’s or operator’s specific requirements, which are often based on fixed parameters such as speed…

As maritime digests a number of historical changes, Norway’s Fjellstrand shipyard wants to put aside the rule book and look at the whole process in a new way, reducing engineering costs up to 70% and production costs up to 20%.The process of designing and building a ship, even in today’s highly standardized mass manufacturing environment, remains largely a one-off, one-of-a-kind design and build. Ships are most often built to a shipowner’s or operator’s specific requirements, which are often based on fixed parameters such as speed…

Rolls-Royce Marine has signed a deal to supply its Autocrossing system to a total of 13 new environmentally friendly ferries for the Norwegian company Fjord1. The vessels are currently being built by three yards in Turkey and two yards in Norway. All contracts also include two azipull propellers for each vessel with accompanying propeller control system from Rolls-Royce. With this contract, Rolls-Royce has sold autocrossing to a  total of 18 new ferries to operate along the coast of Norway, of which 16 have been ordered by Fjord1 and two by another Norwegian ferry company, FosenNamsos Sjø.

While debates rage in regards to safety, insurance and cyber security, the tech powering autonomous maritime operations continues to power ahead.Advances in sensor technology, data analytics and bandwidth-to-shore are fundamentally changing the way shipping works. And as operations are digitalized, they become more automated, Dr. Pierre C. Sames, Director of Group Technology & Research at class society DNV GL, has stated.Governments around the world are looking into unmanned shipping…

KONGSBERG said it has signed a Research & Innovation (R&I) contract with technology acceleration organization PILOT-E for the development of zero emission, full-electric, autonomous ferry concepts. The overall vision for the PILOT-E Autonomous Ferry concept is to develop a state-of-the-art ferry as an integrated, zero emission aspect of a total national transportation plan. The PILOT-E program, a collaboration between the Norwegian Research Council, Innovasjon Norge and Enova…

Norwegian ship yard Fjellstrand AS has signed a contract with Norwegian ferry operator Fjord1 for the building of a new ZeroCatTM 120 car ferry. Fjellstrand was also responsible for building the car ferry MF Ampere which wrote history in 2015 as the world’s first full electrical ferry. The yard had a central position in the introduction of new battery technology in the ferry market. The new ferry is a further development of the MF Ampere and will be equipped for higher speed and longer range. “MF Ampere has been in service for two years now and has sailed a distance equivalent to four times around the equator. This has given us valuable experience for the further development of zero emission technology for ferries and other vessel types”, says Edmund Tolo, Sales Manager in Fjellstrand AS.

While talk of autonomous operations in the maritime sector have swirled for years, the talk becomes reality as Automated Ships Ltd. (an M Subs Ltd subsidiary) and Norway’s Kongsberg Maritime signed a Memorandum of Understanding to build the world’s first unmanned and fully-automated vessel for offshore operations. In January 2017, Automated Ships Ltd will contract the ‘Hrönn’, which will be designed and built in Norway in cooperation with KONGSBERG. Sea trials will take place…

Wärtsilä has been contracted to supply the ship design for the ‘Vestland Cygnus’, a Platform Supply Vessel (PSV) owned by Norway based Norside AS that is to be converted to serve as an offshore wind farm service vessel. The conversion will take place at the Fjellstrand yard in Norway. The contract with Wärtsilä was signed in October. The re-design includes several new features, such as an accommodation module for 134 people, a 100 ton offshore crane with a range of 40 metres, and a new footpath system for transferring personnel to offshore fixtures. The vessel will have SPS (Special Purpose Ships) class notation. Following completion of the rebuild project, the ‘Vestland Cygnus’, will transport service personnel to and from wind farms.

The first purely battery-driven car and passenger ferry Ampere has won the Ship Efficiency Award in the category Environmental Technology. The award recognizes innovative solutions which have contributed to reducing the environmental impact of shipping operations. The 80 metre long DNV GL classed vessel is one of three ferries operated by the Norwegian shipping company Norled between Lavik and Oppedal and is able to carry 120 cars and 360 passengers. “Ampere is trading in Sognefjord with 100 per cent regularity and consumes 50 per cent less energy compared with a traditional diesel ferry on the same route. It has proven to be a huge success for Norled,” said Claes Skat-Rørdam of award sponsor Hempel on behalf of the judges.

Norled Ampere, the world’s first all-electric car ferry, began service this year carrying up to 120 cars and 360 passengers across the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) Sognefjord channel that separates Norway’s villages of Lavik and Oppendal and empties into the North Atlantic’s Norwegian Sea. The 260-ft. vessel recharges its dual 450 kW/hour battery packs after each docking in less 10 minutes – faster than today’s smartphones and the turnarounds of many conventionally powered ferries. Operated by Norled…

The world’s first electrical car and passenger ferry powered by batteries has entered service in Norway, representing a milestone on the road to operating emission-free ferries along Norway’s coastline, with at least 50 other routes currently able to sustain battery-operated vessels. The Norled ferry uses just 150 kWh per route, which corresponds to three days use of electricity in a standard Norwegian household. Built in conjunction with shipbuilder Fjellstrand, Siemens installed…

Norwegian ferry operator Norled  AS  received the battery-driven car ferry ZeroCat 120, an aluminum catamaran which is light-weight with slender twin hulls. Its electric power train was designed by Norway’s Fjellstrand shipyard with battery technology from Germany’s Siemens. The ZeroCat 120 does not discharge greenhouse gases, CO2, methane or nitrogen oxides to the environment. In addition to the environmental benefits, the ferry’s operational and maintenance costs will be lower than those of a conventional ferry.

Battery based energy storage systems for marine applications are finally moving, cleanly along the global waterfront at full speed. The UN Report on climate change on November 2, 2014, stated that the unregulated use of carbon based fuels must cease by the end of the century. While people can debate the causes of global climate change, this type of strong statement is increasingly familiar. The shipping industry is one of the largest consumers of carbon-based fuel, and as such, has great reason to be concerned.

The all-electric Zero Cat ferry, currently under construction at the Fjellstrand yard in Norway, will enter service next year with Norled as the first Norwegian vessel equipped with Survitec Group's most advanced ESS MES automatic escape slide system. The new slide can be launched and ready for passenger use with the touch of a button and without any further intervention by the crew. This is now being seen by ship operators as an important safety benefit especially when crew members may be actively engaged in dealing with other aspects of an emergency.

Offshore energy, whether oil, gas or wind, faces a tightening regime of restrictions. In Germany, for example, the German Federal Bureau of Maritime Traffic and Hydrography (BSH) recently updated its standards for offshore wind energy units, offshore converter and inverter stations, and subsea high-power transfer cables. But regardless of the unclear political environment, the offshore industry continues to expand, a fact reflected in the order books of shipyards. Some recent achievements include: The Norwegian Fjellstrand shipyard in Oma completed the construction of "Siem Moxie", a so-called "Infield Support Vessel". Maersk ordered a new cable-laying vessel from the Dutch Damen shipbuilding group. The ship will be a "Damen Offshore Carrier DOC 8500" type.

Nor-Shipping announced the nominees for the 2013 Nor-Shipping Awards which recognize achievements in three different areas – energy efficiency, innovative ship design and young entrepreneurship. HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway will present the awards when they are announced at the Opening Conference on June 4. The Energy Efficiency Award (previously Clean Ship Award) pays tribute to the ship with the greatest contribution towards energy efficiency in relation to its function or operation.

The infield support vessel (ISV) ‘Siem Moxie’ will be the first Ulstein X-BOW workboat to be fitted with two Voith Schneider Propellers (VSP). X-BOW vessels are characterised by the absence of a bulbous bow. Their bow slopes backwards above the water line which results in reduced resistance and improved wave slamming characteristics on the foreship. Designed for specific tasks in wind farms in the North Sea as well as in the Atlantic, the work boat with a length of 74 meters and a beam of 17 meters will be fitted with two electronically controlled VSP of the size 28R5 ECS/234-2. They have a propulsion power of 1,850 kW each and will be arranged in the stern. The two Voith Schneider Propellers will also be used for active roll stabilization as well as for dynamic positioning (DP class 2).

Rolls-Royce has signed a contract for the delivery of its Azipull propulsion and control system for the "ferry of the future," a new vessel which will operate on battery power alone. The vessel is being built at the Fjellstrand yard in Norway, and once in service will be operated by Norwegian transport company Norled between Lavik and Oppedal. In 2010, the Norwegian Ministry of Transport announced a tender to develop a new ferry that was 15-20% more energy efficient than existing vessels.

Norway's Fjellstrand AS contracted by Siem Offshore Rederi AS to construct an Ulstein SX 163 design offshore wind or oil installationl service support vessel. Main particulars of the Ulstein SX 163 are a length of 74 meters, a  beam of 17 meters, and with accommodation for 60 persons. Scheduled date for delivery is March 2014 with a contract value of approx. NOK 300 million, and with an option for one additional vessel. A strong growth in the offshore wind industry brings forward a great demand for large vessels of high quality operating in connection with installations and service of the wind farms. “The vessel shall be used for operations within the offshore renewable energy market and within the offshore oil and gas market with regards to installation…

New Fjellstrand designed WindServer Trimarans for World Marine Offshore to be classed by GL. As offshore wind developments move further offshore, into deeper waters with more extreme weather conditions, the challenge of providing operations and maintenance (O&M) support safely and cost effectively grows. The Fjellstrand WindServer is one of the new generation of offshore service vessels that will be meeting these needs and Germanischer Lloyd (GL) will be supporting this growing industry by providing classification services for the first newbuildings.

The first delivery comprises twelve MTU 16V 4000 M63 engines destined for Camorim, the Brazilian shipping company. Twin MTU engines will be used to power Rolls-Royce propeller-rudder systems on a total of six tug boats. Each engine in this order delivers power of 2,000kW, and its value lies at some three million euros to Tognum. The tug vessels will mainly be used in offshore oil production operations carried out by Petrobas, the petroleum producer in Rio de Janeiro/Macae. The second order is from Fjellstrand, the Norwegian shipyard. Four marine gensets based on MTU 16V 4000 M23S engines, each with a power output of 1,840kW, will be used to propel a multi-purpose offshore vessel operated by Norside Supporter AS. The engines back up the Rolls-Royce propellers and automation system.