Turbine Transfers News

ESNA and Strategic Marine have signed an agreement to develop a SES CTV (Surface Effect Ship Crew Transfer Vessel) for offshore wind applications.According to Wikipedia, a surface effect ship or sidewall hovercraft is a watercraft that has both an air cushion, like a hovercraft, and twin hulls, like a catamaran.The vessel type offers the combination of higher speed, increased operational wave height and reduced fuel oil consumption.The plan is to start building the first offshore…

With more wind farms sprouting up in Europe, Asia and now here in the United States, a steady stream of crew transfer vessels (CTV) will be needed to support their construction, maintenance and operation. Typically aluminum catamarans, these vessels are deployed to ferry personnel and light equipment to and from offshore wind farms on a daily basis.While a solid portion of CTVs in the established European offshore wind market are propelled by waterjets, Adam Mills, sales director at Marine Jet Power…

Crew transfer vessel operators using the new Voith Linear Jet (VLJ) marine propulsion system can save over £75,000 in fuel costs in a season, the manufacturer claims. The cost saving, around 20 percent, is a key figure from the collection of extensive data from four months’ operation in a range of sea conditions, working at different speeds and with different loadings. The Voith Linear Jet, unveiled last year as a “world first” in marine propulsion technology, combines elements of two existing technologies: conventional screw propellers and water jets.

Offshore wind farm development has been led globally by the UK, followed by Germany. Both countries have governments with long term commitments to renewable energy. Denmark, Belgium and The Netherlands are building wind farms, but they are a long way behind the leaders in offshore wind. In 2014 the UK accounted for over 50% of all the offshore wind energy generated globally. All of these countries border the North Sea, a notoriously stormy sea area, which has a high frequency of wind to drive the turbines. Traditional survey vessels are first to arrive in a potential wind farm area.

BMT Nigel Gee Ltd, a subsidiary of BMT Group Ltd, has announced that windfarm support vessel Trearddur Bay, its latest design for Turbine Transfers,  has successfully completed sea trials in the Solent, achieving 31 knots with 8 metric tons DWT. With sea trials completed Trearddur Bay has immediately started work for Dong Energy. Built by Aluminium Marine Consultants (AMC) on the Isle of Wight, Trearddur Bay was launched in December 2014. The vessel is 21m long with a beam of 7.0m and utilises BMT’s well proven catamaran hull form.

According to the manufacturer, the propulsion system has performed convincingly all along the line and surpassed the expectations of her owner, the Welsh company Turbine Transfers Ltd, a subsidiary of Holyhead Towing Company. The VLJs are the main propulsion system of the DNV Classed 21m offshore service catamaran, which was designed for Turbine Transfers by BMT Nigel Gee and built by AMC. The Crew Transport Vessel will take service technicians to offshore wind farms at sites all around Europe, initially at the Westernmost Rough site off the Humber for Dong Energy.

BMT Nigel Gee's first 26m XSS Windfarm Support for Turbine Transfers launched at the Sepers B.V shipyard in Holland. The XSS (Extreme Semi-SWATH) offers significant improvements in motion levels over conventional platforms and is on target for delivery to Turbine Transfers later this year in time to demonstrate its capabilities in the rougher autumn and winter weather. This boat is intended to enable improved availability throughout the year providing O&M operations when they are most needed.

Austal to design & construct three wind farm support vessels (WFSV) for UK's Turbine Transfer. The 27 metre catamarans will be used by UK-based Turbine Transfers to support wind turbine installation and maintenance activities in European waters. Austal will build them at its shipyard in the Philippines over a period of approximately nine months, commencing in March 2013. Rugged and versatile, the new Wind Express 27 catamarans will be able to transport 12 personnel and 10 tonnes of equipment/stores to and from turbines. This includes containerised items on forward and/or aft decks.

Houlder & BMT Nigel Gee announce that their jointly developed Turbine Access System (TAS) has successfully completed offshore trials. The TAS was fitted to Turbine Transfers’ 24m Cemlyn Bay for a four week trials period at RWE’s Rhyl Flats offshore windfarm off the coast of Wales. The TAS is a lightweight motion compensated gangway that provides substantially improved access to offshore wind turbines for maintenance personnel. It considerably increases the level of safety and operability, both of which are prime goals for offshore wind farm operators and developers.

Wind farm crew transfer vessel 'Caernarfon Bay' built by UK shipbuilders South Boat Special Projects Ltd. South Boats Special Projects Ltd. announce the launch and commissioning of its 57th offshore wind farm crew transfer vessel, ‘Caernarfon Bay’. The vessel is the first of the South Catamaran 19m WFSV designs to be delivered and features a host of developments. Built for Turbine Transfers Ltd. the vessel has passaged to a contract in the German North Sea following successful trials and acceptance.

A new propulsor for 20 to 40 knots with the simplicity and efficiency of a propeller. Voith has announced the first Voith Linear Jet order with Turbine Transfers UK for a 19 meter BMT Nigel Gee designed Wind Support Vessel. The Voith Linear Jet will provide for this application a substantial higher bollard pull without a requirement for increased installed power. This higher bollard pull will allow Turbine Transfers the safe transfer of personnel up to higher seastates. Turbine Transfers - a wholly owned subsidiary of Holyhead Towing Company - currently operates a fleet of over 20 fast catamarans that transport personnel and equipment to and from offshore wind turbines. Its long term customers include Siemens, RWE npower, Van Oord, Dong Energy, EnBW and Royal Boskalis Westminster.

BMT Nigel Gee Ltd, a subsidiary of BMT Group Ltd, has announced further collaboration with Turbine Transfers, one provider of Windfarm Support Vessels (WSVs), on its latest development - the design of a 19m WSV utilising the Voith Linear Jet. The Voith Linear Jet (VLJ) is an innovative propulsor unit developed by Voith that provides considerable advantages to the operator over both conventional propellers and waterjets. Voith has undertaken extensive numerical modelling and model testing of the propulsor but this will be the first application in a vessel.

Building on its initial success in the renewable energy market, Austal has confirmed a contract for a fourth wind farm support vessel for Turbine Transfers Limited. The order is the first for a new Austal design which will enable safer and more efficient offshore wind turbine service. Welcoming the follow-up order from the UK-based company, Austal Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Bellamy, said the shipbuilder had continued to refine and enhance its Wind Express vessel range following its launch in mid-2010 as part of a strategy to pursue new commercial vessel markets.

Houlder and BMT Nigel Gee have announced they have been awarded a contract from The Carbon Trust as one of the selected participants in the Offshore Wind Accelerator Access (OWA-A) Competition. The competition, backed by the Trust and eight leading wind farm developers, challenged industry to think beyond traditional approaches, to enable access to the turbine structures for engineering personnel and equipment in further offshore windfarms that are being developed. The Houlder…

Blount Boats, Inc. has been appointed by South Boats Special Projects, Ltd., based at Cowes on the Isle of Wight, England, to be the exclusive shipyard to manufacture U.S. flagged aluminum catamarans of South Boats designs for the U.S. wind farm industry. Blount Boats operates a shipyard in Warren, Rhode Island. South Boats is recognized as a pioneer in designing and manufacturing wind farm service vessels. Their shipyard has built 45 vessels in five classes, from 15M – 30 meters, representing a 50% market share in European wind farms that are serviced by 13 operators, including Turbine Transfers Ltd. (Holyhead Towing Company), Iceni Marine Services Ltd., Northern Offshore Services AB, MPI Workboats, Ltd. (Vroon Group BV), Maritime Craft Services and MTS Group.

BMT Nigel Gee, a subsidiary of the BMT Group, has introduced several new technologies. One of these, a damping system, is designed to reduce motions by more than 50% to prevent seasickness. BMT has also created a mounted superstructure designed to reduce internal ambient noise levels and elimiate structure-borne vibration. Several of these technologies are currently being incorporated into the new 19m vessel under construction for Turbine Transfers, the design of which fully complies with the new DNV Wind Farm Service 1 class notation introduced earlier this year. BMT Nigel Gee is exhibiting on stand A207 at Seawork International 2011.

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.

Ultra Dynamics supplied three sets of twin UltraJet UJ377 Waterjet installations to South Boats for their New Mk II GRP 43/12m WFSV RRV Catamarans RRV Audrey, Offshore Response 1, and Spike Islander. The GRP catamarans have all been tailored to meet specific code and operational requirements of Wind Farm operations operators Turbine Transfers (Holyhead Towing) and Offshore Wind Power Marine Services:Limited (OWPMS) and Waddentaxi in the Netherlands respectively. Constructed on…