Anchor Handling Tugs News

Dong Fang Offshore (DFO), one of Asia’s largest offshore wind service providers, has signed a major shipbuilding contract with Norwegian yard Westcon for a new subsea and cable lay vessel (CLV), set for delivery in 2027.Westcon will take over and complete construction of a large cable lay vessel already under build.DFO said the order supports its recent growth and replaces installation capacity lost in Taiwan after DeepOcean exercised an option to keep the Orient Adventurer working in Europe until 2028…

Dutch marine services provider Seacontractors announced it has acquired two secondhand anchor handling tugs from Boskalis.Classed by Bureau Veritas with an unrestricted sailing area, the 2013-built Seraya and Sentosa each offer 120 tons bollard pull capability. They are able to carry 860m3 of fuel and provide a generous deck space of 200m2. Both 51.8-meter-long vessels have accommodation on board for 24 persons. Moreover, their fully integrated fire fighting systems enhance their…

Heavy lift shipping and offshore transport and installation contractor Jumbo Offshore reports it has executed the transport and installation of a torpedo pile mooring system, including mooring for flexible risers, umbilical for the Libra Consortium's Guanabara floating production storage and offloading unit (FPSO). While this type of installation previously required the mobilization of up to three anchor handling tugs, Jumbo carried out the entire contract using only its J-class offshore installation vessel Fairplayer…

Saipem's giant Saipem 7000 semi-submersible crane vessel is set to return to operation at the Seagreen wind farm site in the UK a month and a half after it was involved in a tilting incident in Norway.As previously reported, in mid-April, Saipem 7000 tilted in a fjord in Norway with 275 people aboard. The vessel tilted during the planned 5 years main cranes load test, when, as Saipem said, the main block wire broke during the test lifting operation and the testing load (two cargo barges) with the main block was released into the water.Now the vessel appears ready to return to work…

Offshore Support and Logistics Services Company (OFCO – Offshore International), the integrated maritime logistics service provider that is jointly owned by Allianz Marine & Logistics Services (AMLS) and SAFEEN, Abu Dhabi Ports’ marine services arm, announced it has acquired seven offshore support vessels, including four anchor handling tugs, a 65-meter landing craft, as well as a supply ship and multipurpose safety standby vessel.Officially launched in January 2021, OFCO provides onshore and offshore integrated logistics solutions, and subsea services.

Dutch offshore transportation and dredging giant Boskalis has halted crew changes and will slash spending this year due to the COVID-19 virus crisis, it said on Thursday.The company said that, while its workers work from home where possible, this is not an option for staff working on international projects and vessels."Therefore, as a consequence of global travel restrictions and to ensure the business continuity and health of our colleagues, the customary crew and project staff rotations have been suspended as of 16 March…

Crowley Maritime Corp.’s ocean class tugboats and 455-series high-deck strength barges recently played an integral role in the tow-out and installation of Hess’ Stampede tension-leg platform (TLP) in the deep waters of the U.S. Gulf. Demonstrating both nearshore and offshore capabilities, six Crowley vessels worked together alongside other third-party assets to deliver the oversized, overweight platform, tendons and other equipment from the Kiewit facility in Ingleside, Texas, to the site of the Stampede floating production facility, about 150 miles offshore in 3,400 feet of water.

Jawar Al Khaleej Shipping LLC (JAK), a provider of specialist services to the offshore oil and gas sector in the Arabian Gulf, has taken delivery of a Damen Fast Crew Supplier (FCS) 5009 and an ASD 3213 tug for operations at the Al Basra (ABOT) and Khor Al Amaya (KAAOT ) oil terminals. Between them, these facilities handle more than 90 percent of Iraq’s crude oil exports. The FCS 5009 is named the Jawar Abu Dhabi and the ASD 3213 is the Jawar Faw. A second ASD 3213, the Jawar Um Qasr, is due for delivery shortly.

Vessel oversupply will continue to plague the offshore industry this year as a record total of 465 offshore support vessels (OSV) are expected to be delivered in 2017, according to VesselsValue. Beginning with the drop in oil prices and then lower demand for offshore research projects, the offshore industry is struggling with historically low asset prices, while many offshore vessel owners around the world have been led to bankruptcy. Now as the industry faces a large amount of vessel oversupply…

The Harvey Stone is a Multi-Purpose Field Support Vessel (MPFSV) that will serve as a dedicated field support vessel for the Shell Stones FPSO offshore terminal. Her primary duties will be to operate as the dedicated pull-back tug, in support of, and assisting the berthing, loading and unberthing of offtake tankers of up to 46,287 SDWT. The vessel is expected to escort the above FPSO in the event of disconnection from the submerged buoy mooring for hurricane avoidance purposes…

At this year’s Seatrade Maritime Middle East Exhibition taking place in Dubai, Jawar Al Khaleej Shipping LLC (JAK) signed a contract with Damen Shipyards Group for the supply of three vessels: one Fast Crew Supplier (FCS) 5009 and two ASD Tugs 3213. JAK is a provider of specialist services to the offshore oil and gas sector in the Gulf, delivering logistical support including oil terminal support services, towage and salvage, together with other integrated offshore solutions.

P&O Maritime has announced the rebranding of its joint venture company Repasa, the Spanish operator of offshore support vessels for the energy industry. P&O Repasa will become the official brand of the joint venture which has expanded its fleet in the offshore towage market from 8 vessels to 14 in the last year while creating a permanent offshore service hub in Equatorial Guinea in West Africa. P&O Repasa has also won a long-term contract with Marathon Oil in the United States to expand its offshore marine services at the Alba Field, Equatorial Guinea. In addition to the existing fleet of 7 tugs deployed at the LNG production facility, P&O Repasa will provide two Fast Support Vessels (FSV’s) to enable crew changes, field supply and platform standby activities..

Go Offshore,  wholly-owned subsidiary of Otto Marine has entered into an agreement for two long-term anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) charter contracts worth USD25.2 million with a large oil and gas company. The two contracts are in respect of two 16,000 brake horsepower (bhp) large anchor handling tugs supply vessels. None of the Directors or controlling shareholders of the Company has any direct or indirect interest on the above transaction other than through their respective shareholding interests, direct or indirect in the Company, Go Offshore or Go Marine. The transaction is expected to have a positive impact on the consolidated net tangible assets per share or earnings per share of the group for FY15.

Ocean Koperd.o.o, a member of the Ocean Team headquartered in Trieste, Italy, will strengthen its fleet with the addition of a Damen Stan Pontoon 9127. The contract, signed on June 24, is for the largest pontoon in the region, and certainly in the Adriatic Sea, the builder noted. This will be the second barge purchased by Ocean Koper from Damen. The towage company that provides offshore support services was established in 2005 and acquired the P9 barge, a Damen Stan Pontoon 7524, in 2010. Ocean Koper’s current fleet consists of two Anchor Handling Tugs, two tugs that are regularly involved in short-sea-towage-operations and two cargo barges. There were a number of reasons why Ocean Koper decided to return to Damen, with a specific benefit being on stock availability.

While much of the focus on coverage of the Chinese shipbuilding industry is on big shipbuilding, Maritime Reporter switches gears this month to explore activities in select boatbuilding sectors. The Damen boatbuilding name is ubiquitous around the world, and China is certainly no exeception. The Damen Yichang Shipyard in China started ops in 1999 as a JV between Damen Shipyards Group and Sinotrans CSC, focused on building cargo vessels from the Dutch company’s portfolio. Recently Damen said it intends to broaden the market audience courtesy of an increased portfolio of vessels from the yard…

Last month Maritime Reporter spent some time with Vivek Seth, CEO, of Qatar-based Halul Offshore  Services Company, for his insights on the impact of low oil prices in the Middle East and beyond. What is your background? I became part of the Milaha family when I joined Halul Offshore in February 2014 as CEO. I am a second generation Marine Engineer. After sailing as a C/E I took my first shore job as Technical superintendent in Hong Kong for more than two years. Subsequently, I got my Masters in Business Administration from UK.

From the four-story office tower, housing 100 technical engineers and administration staff, to the 65,000-square-meter yard with extensive fabrication and machine shops and a huge dry dock, the Xin Yue Feng Shipyard has been building every more sophisticated vessels. Although the majority of the yards work is in steel, they maintain a set of skilled aluminum workers as well. In mid-March this group was building a small aluminum service vessel for a Singapore customer. Over in the yards assembly and launch dock…

Last month, POSH Xanadu, the largest purpose-built floatel to date was delivered at PaxOcean in Zhoushan. POSH Xanadu is a ship-shaped column stabilized semi-submersible accommodation platform, housing 750 passengers and crew in 390 spacious cabins. Imtech Marine, through its Service and Nav/Com brand Radio Holland, is technology partner of PaxOcean in this unique project. Imtech Marine supplied all the navigation and external communication equipment onboard. The systems were…

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V., in partnership with Volker Stevin International (VolkerWessels), has been awarded a contract by Iberdrola Renewables Offshore Deutschland GmbH for the partial construction of the Wikinger Offshore Wind Farm in the German section of the Baltic Sea. The work comprises the transport and installation of 70 wind turbine foundations and six offshore substation piles. The contract carries a value of approximately EUR 75 million for Boskalis. The Wikinger Offshore Wind Farm is located 34 kilometers northeast of the island of Rügen and will generate a total capacity of 350 MW. Each of the seventy wind turbine…

The operation of an oil field involves moving rigs or jackups in a maneuver referred to as a rig move. These complex operations require experience and the coordination of all stakeholders. Explanation by Pål-André Malø, superintendent for new construction, and former AHTS captain (Anchor Handling Tugs Supply) with Bourbon Offshore Norway. "Generally speaking, this operation mobilizes between 3 and 4 vessels tasked with pulling the anchors of the rig to position it. Most of the time, there are 8 anchors - sometimes 10 or 12 - weighing 6 to 20 tons each," Pål-André explains.

Fugro Satellite Positioning released its Seastar XP2 PPP GNSS augmentation service on July 1, 2014, which provides increased redundancy for mission-critical offshore GNSS position and navigation applications. Like Fugro’s flagship Seastar G2 service, XP2 is an L1/L2, phase-based, Orbit and Clock PPP service. Similar to the 24+ American GPS satellites, XP2 incorporates a number of Russian GLONASS satellites to generate corrections that permit the calculation of a real-time position solution. The new XP2 service mimics Fugro’s flagship G2 and offers accuracies approaching it.

Oil and gas—and also mining—are the drivers today propelling Arctic maritime operations and the construction of new vessels able to operate in extreme latitudes. While the gas and oil resources can be recovered in the Arctic or far north and shipped to markets by sea or pipeline, the cost of doing must be balanced upon the global market price for those commodities. Ships and marine structures able to operate in the harsh conditions of the extreme latitudes require special designs and construction techniques.

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) announces that it has reached an agreement to acquire Fairmount Marine B.V. and Fairmount Ocean Towage Company B.V. (Fairmount) from the French group Louis Dreyfus Armateurs. The transaction values the company at an average multiple of approximately six times EBITDA. Fairmount is a global provider of long distance ocean towage services operating five 205 metric tons bollard pull towing vessels with anchor handling capabilities. The addition…