Mission Equipment News

The end may be in sight, but the race for bigger cranes is still having an impact on offshore wind project efficiency.The industry has already felt the need for upgrading crane lifting capacity on existing offshore wind installation vessels: NOV is upgrading the cranes on Cadeler’s existing O-class wind turbine installation vessels (WTIVs), and a gantry crane extension will soon make Van Oord’s Svanen one of the largest floating heavy-lift installation vessels.It’s a newbuild phenomenon too. NOV has developed a telescoping leg encircling crane for Shimizu’s GustoMSC-designed WTIV Blue Wind.

NOV has unveiled a new installation vessel concept design tailored specifically for the unique challenges of the emerging floating offshore wind sector.Floating wind farms are often farther offshore, in deeper waters and in harsher environments, therefore requiring new and robust installation strategies.According to NOV, its new floating wind installation vessel (FWIV) concept—part of GustoMSC's Enhydra offshore wind support vessel series—is designed to operate safely, effectively and longer in the harshest environments and deep waters.

Subsea 7's recently delivered Seaway Alfa Lift offshore wind foundation installation vessel is in transit to Europe and is expected to join Subsea 7's fleet in the third quarter of 2023.The semi-submersible heavy installation vessel, designed by Ulstein, will be used to install the next-generation XXL offshore wind foundations.The newbuild heavy lift crane vessel Seaway Alfa Lift (CMHI-207), was originally ordered in 2018 by OHT on speculation. OHT eventually became part of Subsea…

Dutch offshore equipment supplier SMST has been awarded a contract by Damen Shipyards to deliver two sets of mission equipment for the two newbuild Elevation Series CSOVs for Windcat Offshore. SMST will deliver a gangway combined with access & cargo tower and "world’s largest" 3D Motion compensated crane.The Elevation Series CSOVs have been designed by Damen Shipyards in cooperation with Windcat and CMB.TECH.

Ship design company Ulstein Design & Solutions has designed an offshore wind installation vessel that it says is "a safer, smarter, and more competitive ship design solution for transporting, upending and installing large monopiles on DP."The patent-pending U-STERN design, according to the company, enables longitudinal storage of monopiles and upending in the ship center line. "This allows the ship to head into the waves during the installation process, minimizing ship motions and fuel consumption, while the U-STERN provides excellent shielding from the waves.

NOV's Marine and Construction business unit has come up with a "new and flexible" Modular Service and Operations Vessel (MSOV) concept to "optimize offshore wind farm operations and maintenance." NOV says the vessel's features resemble those of a sea otter."The Enhydra series design characteristics resemble the sea otter's (Enhydra) unique and physical behavioral features. The sea otter is the sole marine mammal to use tools, and it uses its streamlined body design to efficiently perform deep dives to the seafloor and adapt its lung capacity to float effectively on the surface…

Classification society Bureau Veritas has successfully reviewed a 3D design of a 2500 m³ hopper dredger from Damen Shipyards, being a step to granting it approval in principle. The pilot project for 3D model-based class approval is meant to pave the way toward using three dimensional computer designs as standard procedure to achieve class notation for seagoing vessels.Vessel steel hull Design evaluation based on 3D models in parallel to its classification review process has become possible thanks to the new data exchange format - OCX.

Marco Polo Marine, the Singapore-based marine logistics company, has awarded SMST the contract for the delivery of a gangway and a crane for its offshore wind Commissioning Service Operations Vessel (CSOV). The vessel will be used in commissioning works during the construction of offshore wind farms, as well as maintenance operations. SMST’s mission equipment consisting of an Access & Cargo Tower with a motion-compensated gangway, the so-called Telescopic Access Bridge L-Series…

Norwegian-based shipbuilding and design group Ulstein has unveiled the design for a new foundation installation vessel enabling operators and contractors to efficiently transport and install monopiles or jacket foundations up to 5,000 tons.The new ULSTEIN HX122 vessel features an ULSTEIN X-BOW and an ultra-high-capacity 8,000 mt crane, engineered for the next generation of foundations in the offshore wind industry.Market analysts and brokers have flagged a projected shortage of foundation installation vessels as existing tonnage and newbuild orders are expected to lag behind projected demand.

Kongsberg Maritime has launched EcoAdvisor, an intelligent and dynamic decision support system for optimizing a range of offshore vessel operations. "EcoAdvisor is an outcome of a joint ‘Intelligent Efficiency’ research project between Kongsberg Maritime, vessel operator DOF Subsea AS (DOF), Sintef, NORCE, and Innovation Norway, with the aim of developing technologies to monitor and reduce the GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions during vessel operations," Kongsberg Maritime said.It monitors the vessel operation and its environment…

Offshore vessel designer GustoMSC, part of NOV, has launched a next-generation heavy lift crane vessel series called ENSIS, planned for foundation installation for the offshore wind farms of the future."GustoMSC's new ENSIS heavy lift crane vessel series addresses the needs of the growing offshore wind foundation market. With monopiles and jackets increasing in size and weight and the continuous need for efficiency in installation, a new generation of vessels is needed," GustoMSC…

Offshore installation specialist Jan De Nul Group has ordered a high-end crane simulator for two of its Next Generation Offshore Installation Vessels Voltaire and Les Alizés.According to Jan De Nul, the crane simulator will be based on real physics and the actual vessel models, enabling Jan De Nul to train its crewmembers and realistically simulate complex offshore installations in a completely safe environment, in the most severe conditions. The partner for the development of this simulator is the Norway-based company OSC AS (previously known as Offshore Simulator Centre).

Canadian firm Autoship Systems Corporation (ASC) in cooperation with its Norwegian reseller, Coastdesign Norway (CDN), has developed an offshore stability software for jack-up vessels called - the Autoload® - Jack Up version and has won a contract to install the solution onboard Seaway 7’s first self-propelled jack-up vessel, VIND 1. Autoload is also installed onboard their entire fleet of vessels which include open deck semi-submersible heavy transportation vessels, cable lay, heavy lift crane installation, and Installation support vessels, Autoship Systems said.

U.S. shipbuilder Philly Shipyard has won a contract from the dredging giant Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company to build a Jones Act-compliant subsea rock installation vessel that will serve the growing U.S. offshore wind market.The contract award, first in the U.S. offshore wind space for the shipyard, is worth around $197 million. Great Lakes, the U.S. largest dredging services provider, will have a right of first refusal on a second ship. If both ships are ordered, then the total contract value of the two-ship program would be around $382 million."Over the past several years…

Offshore installation firm Jan De Nul Group has awarded the Italian engineering firm Remazel a contract for the delivery of a set of cradles, a skidding system and an upending hinge for its new offshore installation vessel Les Alizés to handle and install large monopiles."The design of this fully automated monopile installation system is tailor-made for Les Alizés and ideally suited to work in challenging weather conditions and harsh sea states. This mission equipment will allow Les Alizés to safely and efficiently install monopiles in offshore conditions…

Reston, Va.-based Leidos said it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire esteemed naval architecture and marine engineering firm Gibbs & Cox for $380 million in cash, as the defense, engineering and IT conglomerate looks to bolster its expertise as it competes for U.S. Navy unmanned systems contracts. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021, subject to closing conditions.Founded in 1922 in New York City, Gibbs & Cox has designed some of the world's most well-known vessels, including the WWII Liberty Ships and the stories ocean liner SS United States.

Norway's Offshore Heavy Transports has won a contract to transport and install foundations for the first phase of Equinor's and SSE's Dogger Bank Wind Farm, Dogger Bank A, in the UK, using its foundation installation vessel Alfa Lift being built in China.To remind, OHT was in November 2019 selected as the preferred supplier for foundation installation at the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm, and it has now secured the firm contract for the Dogger Bank A. "The contract for the second phase…

Norwegian shipbuilder and ship designer Ulstein is currently carrying out the paint work on Bernhard Schulte’s new service operation vessel (SOV), the 'Windea TBN'.The SOV, which was launched on 15 October 2016, for the offshore wind industry was docked into our dock hall on 8 December 2019.The hull of the vessel arrived Ulstein Verft in September 2019 and in the last few months the work has been focused on accommodation, electrical installations, painting of technical areas and outfitting.After the hull had been towed into the dock hall, the exterior paint work started, while the interior work continues.This will be Bernhard Schulte's third vessel which has been designed and constructed by Ulstein.

Earlier this summer Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ventured to Ålesund/Sunnmøre area of western Norway visiting local manufacturers and suppliers serving the global maritime industry and featuring a series of business and technology presentations by leading sector companies including Inmarsat, VARD Group, Ulstein Group, Brunvoll, Ulmatec, Jets, ABB Marine & Ports, Fostech AS and Rolls-Royce Marine. Tom Mulligan reports on new business developments and technology innovations…

Norwegian shipbuilder and ship designer Ulstein has started construction work on Bernhard Schulte Offshore’s third Ulstein-designed offshore wind vessel at Ulstein Verft.According a press note, initiate work tasks such as steel outfitting, mechanical outfitting, electrical steel work, piping and insulation, have now commenced, and cable pulling will start within a few days.Bernhard Schulte has previously (2016 and 2017) received two offshore wind vessels from Ulstein. The ship owner was the first to order and introduce to the market the novel X-STERN aft design, which improves the operational flexibility and work conditions for the ship’s crew at the offshore wind farms.

Lockheed Martin and Fincantieri Marinette Marine have laid the keel of a new littoral combat ship to commence the vessel’s construction.The future USS Nantucket, or LCS 27, underwent a keel-laying ceremony in Wisconsin where Polly Spencer, the ship’s sponsor, had her initials welded on the vessel’s keel plate, Lockheed said.As part of a ship-building tradition dating back centuries, a shipyard worker welded the initials of Polly Spencer, USS Nantucket ship sponsor and wife of U.S. Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer, into the ship's keel plate. This plate will be affixed to the ship and travel with Nantucket throughout its commissioned life."The USS Nantucket will confront many complex challenges," said Richard V. Spencer, the U.S. Secretary of the Navy.

Damen Shipyards Group and De Beers Marine Namibia (Pty) held a steel cutting ceremony to mark the beginning of construction on a new offshore crawler diamond recovery vessel for offshore operations in Namibia.At 177 meters (577 feet) long, the new vessel will be slightly larger than the current largest vessel in the De Beers Marine Namibia fleet, Mafuta (174 meters, 571 feet). Built from a Marin Teknikk design, the MT 6027, on-board features include a dynamic positioning system (DP2) based on a seven-thruster propulsion system powered by six generators of 3…

Dutch offshore wind equipment specialist Huisman has been selcted by Royal Boskalis Westminster to deliver a 4,000mt Offshore Mast Crane (OMC) to be installed on their crane vessel Bokalift 2."This commitment reinstates Boskalis’ confidence in Huisman as mission equipment supplier after successful delivery of the 3,000mt Offshore Mast Crane for the Bokalift 1 in 2017," said the worldwide specialist in renewable offshore wind and geothermal energy, oil and gas.With a lifting capacity of 4,000mt at 100m above deck, this crane is capable of lifting jackets for wind turbines off the deck of the vessel. A fly jib allows lifting of smaller…