Damen's FCS 7011: fast, economical marine access in a changing world

In January this year, the first of Damen Shipyards Group’s revolutionary new Fast Crew Supplier (FCS) 7011 class was launched at Damen Shipyards Antalya, Turkey. Representing the very latest in marine access thinking, the vessel has been developed in consultation with the offshore energy industry to meet the needs of a sector facing pressure to its costs in the face of fluctuations in the price of oil and increasingly competitive renewable energy. As a cost-effective crew transportation alternative boasting robust safety characteristics, this innovative design of the FCS 7011 offers a viable alternative to helicopter transport and has already gained substantial interest from clients in the southern North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil and West Africa.

A new vessel

The momentum behind the development of such a vessel was driven by a number of factors, including the demand from both oil and gas (O&G) operators and the exceptional growth in offshore renewables for increased safety and efficiency, and reduced cost. in the North Sea which, due to its pioneering role since the late 1960s in offshore oil and gas production, so often takes a lead in emerging trends. This time it is the decline in production as fields reach and pass their peaks that is bringing with it a new economic landscape for marine access. With the traditional O&G majors beginning to wind down their activities in the region to focus on assets elsewhere, a new generation of field operators are moving in with the aim of extracting the remaining hydrocarbons left in these declining fields. To do this profitably requires a business model based on low overheads and a more agile way of working that the incumbent oil majors simply cannot replicate. This requires that costs be driven down to the absolute minimum while at the same time ensuring that the demand for ever-higher levels of safety is satisfied. As a result, logistics is one of the operational areas that has found itself under the spotlight.

With its experience and capacity for innovation, Damen is well positioned to work with these new, stripped-down, energy groups to help them achieve their objectives and has responded by producing a range of increasingly advanced vessels in partnership with equipment manufacturers producing complementary innovations in mission-critical equipment such as motion-compensated gangways and stabilisers.

Greater capacity

70 metres in length and with a capacity of up to 122 passengers, the FCS 7011 delivers greater efficiencies than ever before through its ability to carry much larger numbers of personnel than today’s crew transfer vessels (CTVs) for greater distances (200nm+) at higher speeds (up to 40 knots). The accommodation is one of the most critical elements of the project as it has been developed based on a maximum transit time for any individual being no more than twelve hours, that being the limit permitted without the requirement of permanent overnight accommodation. This opens the door to moving away from dayrate structures towards a pay per journey model and, potentially, vessel sharing, whereby multiple offshore installations can be served in a single round trip, thereby delivering substantial savings in both time and operational costs.

The design of the FCS 7011 pays particular attention to on board comfort and safety, during both transit and transfer. During transit, the vessel’s Sea Axe bow plays an important role in reducing slamming to a minimum. Meanwhile, the accommodation is located just aft of amidships, where the pitching motions are minimal. Damen has incorporated interceptors within the vessel’s stern to reduce both pitching and rolling when underway. Inside, the passengers have luxurious reclining seating with excellent visibility that helps them to maintain their awareness of the sea, thereby enabling them to adjust to the motion and reducing the potential for seasickness.

Damen has also integrated numerous motion-compensating technologies to achieve the optimum in comfort and safety. This involves a Kongsberg DP system, a tailor-made Ampelmann gangway, VEEM gyrostabiliser, MTU main engines, Hamilton waterjets, Danfoss shaft generators and Veth bow thrusters. Each has been assessed relative to all the others with the objective of creating a tightly integrated advanced control system that allows each part to excel in its specific task. The result is a unified system that is greater than the sum of its parts and which sets new standards in the marine access market on a global scale.

The launching of the Aqua Helix marks an important milestone in the development of this new class and a significant step towards its completion. Following the conclusion of outfitting activities now taking place, the FCS 7011 will undergo sea trials off Antalya to test and demonstrate her capabilities. Following this, she will sail to the Netherlands, where Ampelmann will install their gangway system, ready for fully-integrated proof of concept trials in the North Sea.

David Stibbe Director Business Development & Market Intelligence E david.stibbe@damen.com I damen.com