Plenty of work for yards and suppliers

Just like the large offshore contractors, Dutch yards and suppliers are also active all round the world. Through constant innovation and investment in new ship types, technologies and products, year in year out they manage to stay ahead of the international competition. As a result, the export market is of crucial importance for these companies, who are willing to take the risk to spread their wings, ever further. An impressive series of examples.

The Saipem 7000 undergoing a major upgrade of its dp system at Damen Verolme Rotterdam. (Photograph: Damen)

In 2018 there was news to report from the Damen Shipyards Group. A new model was added to its Fast Crew Supplier (FCS) range, the Damen FCS 2710. The design for this type of aluminium catamaran is based on the highly successful Damen FCS 2610, of which more than forty have been built since it was introduced in 2011. The first FCS 2710 was handed over in July 2018 to the British operator High Speed Transfers based in Swansea, Wales. The catamaran was christened HST Hudson, on 3 July, during the Seawork International trade fair in Southampton. The same operator ordered a second and third vessel of the type FCS 2710 shortly afterwards.

This new pair will be christened HST Sofia and HST Harri, and are due to be handed over in 2019. Another milestone was achieved in March 2018 when a Damen FCS 5009, operating in the Gulf of Guinea, was equipped with an Ampelmann L-type gangway system. Damen’s first Service Operations Vessel (SOV) Bibby Wavemaster 1 has also proven highly successful. Since she was commissioned in September 2017, this 90 metre-long vessel has been deployed in both the British and Dutch sectors of the North Sea on behalf of the oil and gas industry and the offshore wind energy sector. The Offshore Support Journal presented the owner of the Bibby Wavemaster 1 the

Offshore Renewables Award last year, for the successful deployment of the vessel. The owners, Bibby Marine Services, were so enthusiastic with their new fleet addition that the decision was taken to order a sister ship from Damen. The new vessel will be completed in mid-2019.

Repair yards The ship repair yards belonging to the Damen Shipyards Group, in particular the Damen Verolme Yard in Rotterdam, completed a huge amount of work in 2018. Over a period of four months, a major refit on the 151 metre-long selfpropelled dp2 jack-up rig Seafox 5 was carried out in Rotterdam. The Saipem 7000, one of the world’s largest semi-submersible crane vessels also arrived at the Damen Verolme yard at the start of 2018 for a major upgrade of its current dp3 system. The work was scheduled to take almost six months. At the end of May, the refit of the wind turbine installation vessel MPI Enterprise, and in July the refit of the Floatel Endurance were both completed at the Rotterdam yard. Other offshore support vessels and rigs that underwent work at Damen Verolme Rotterdam included the Audacia, Aoka Mizu, Stena Don, Prospector 5, Bokalift 1, White Marlin and Seven Borealis. Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam, for its part, was responsible for work on the flexible fallpipe vessels Bravenes and Living Stone. Damen Shiprepair Amsterdam was visited by the jack-up platform Seafox 7, the wind turbine installation vessel Brave Tern and the seismics Oceanic Sirius and Oceanic Vega, both of which were docked, together. At Damen Shiprepair Flushing, work was carried out on the accommodation offshore support vessel Wind Innovation and the jack-up drilling rig Exomna.

Special projects At the Royal IHC yard in Krimpen aan den IJssel, the keel was laid on 5 July 2018 for a new reel-lay vessel and the associated pipelay equipment for Subsea 7. The state-of-the-art vessel to be fabricated at IHC will be christened the Sevan Vega, and following completion will be capable of laying pipes in water depths up to a maximum of 3,000 metres. The Sevan Vega is scheduled to be completed during the first half of 2020. At the start of June 2018, Royal IHC received an order from CNOOC Ltd for the design and fabrication of a comprehensive offloading system. This will consist of crude oil and LPG offloading reels, in addition to a tandem mooring system, a hydraulic power unit, and equipment controls. The system will be installed on a new floating production, storage and offloading vessel, in 2019. Royal IHC also signed a contract with McDermott to convert the Amazon J-lay

vessel to an ultra-deepwater J-lay vessel. This project will involve replacing the existing pipelay installation with a new 1,500-tonne J-lay tower. The new J-lay system, with a dynamic top tension tower, will be designed and fabricated by Royal IHC. The total conversion project will last a maximum of ten months, and will be completed in the summer of 2020. Elsewhere, Royal IHC has designed one of the largest and most sophisticated reel-lay systems anywhere in the world, an integrated 1,550-tonne reel-lay system, for a client in China. Finally, Royal IHC handed over a whole series of innovative dredging vessels to dredging contractors in the Netherlands and abroad, during the course of last year.

Engineering firms Once again in 2018, Fugro hit the headlines with a series of contracts with companies active in the oil and gas industry and the offshore wind energy sector. In January, a start was made on a programme of geophysical and geotechnical surveys for Astelia, as part of the Abu Dhabi Hail and Ghasha Development Project in the Arabian Gulf. In February, Fugro signed a long-term contract with Equinor for the provision of rig positioning services in Norwegian waters. During the second quarter, the Fugro Voyager was deployed for gas hydrate investigation in the South China Sea while in Brazilian waters, a seep hunting survey was carried out and two contracts were signed with Petrobras to provide remotely operated vehicle services to support Petrobras’ exploration and production activities in deep water off the coast of Brazil. Activities were also undertaken off the coast of Eastern Canada, in the Gulf of Mexico and in offshore waters in Qatar. In the wind energy sector, Fugro was responsible for special services for the offshore wind farms Hollandse Kust Noord, Triton Knoll, Saint-Nazaire, Hornsea Project Two, Dieppe-Le Tréport, Baltic Eagle, Baltyk II and Baltic III.

In 2018, GustoMSC supplied the design (NG-5500X) for the multipurpose jack-up vessel Apollo on behalf of GeoSea, and the related jacking system. This vessel, equipped with an 800-tonne crane, was handed over in 2018 by the Uljanik yard in Croatia. In collaboration with the Lamprell yard in the United Arab Emirates, GustoMSC also developed the LJ43 jack-up drilling rig. The first rig based on this design will be built for ARO Drilling, a joint venture between Rowan and Saudi Aramco. This was followed in March by the introduction of Chela, the latest version of GustoMSC’s smart crane for lifting and wireline operations under the drilling cantilever. Shortly

afterwards, the first order was received for this new smart crane, to be installed on board Maersk Drilling’s jack-up drilling rig Maersk Invinsible. In the course of 2018, three brand-new jack-up drilling rigs – the largest in the world – were set to work. All three were built according to the GustoMSC CJ70 design. The rigs in question were the Askepott and Askeladen, deployed by Equinor, and the West Elara that started drilling work for ConocoPhillips in the Norwegian Ekofisk field. GustoMSC was subsequently awarded a contract by Allseas to perform design and engineering services for the jacket lift system beams of Allseas’ Pioneering Spirit. The beams, each 170 metres long, will be used for installing and removing jacket structures. The same engineering firm also presented a series of OCEAN-HE semi-submersible drilling units, including the OCEAN 1100-HE design. For use in the offshore wind energy sector, GustoMSC presented the design for the construction jack-up NG-8000X, a new well-balanced solution founded on economical and safe installation of wind turbine components. To serve the emerging US offshore wind markets, GustoMSC and BargeMaster joined forces in the development of a motion-compensated feeder solution, the BM-T700.

The multipurpose jack-up vessel Apollo was built according to a design from GustoMSC. (Photograph: Uljanik)

SBM Offshore, the world’s largest FPSO supplier, started work in March 2018 at a yard in China, on the fabrication of its standardised Fast4Ward FPSO, a game changer that will deliver a cost-effective solution. Several months later, a second FPSO of this innovative type was placed on the blocks, at the same Chinese yard. At the OTC2018 trade fair in Houston, SBM Offshore and Shell received the Distinguished Achievement Award in recognition of the successful development of the world’s deepest oil and gas project, the Stones field, using the FPSO Turritella, designed by SBM Offshore in collaboration with Shell. At the start of July 2018, ExxonMobil awarded SBM Offshore a front end engineering and design (FEED) contract for a second FPSO for the Liza Development Project off the coast of Guyana. SBM Offshore is already building one FPSO for the first phase of this project. Based on a TLP concept, the engineering firm went on to present a wind floater design, including its mooring system, and featuring a commercially available offshore wind turbine.

On the basis of the SX195 design from Ulstein Design & Solutions, the German operator Bernhard Schulte placed a service operations vessel on the blocks at the Ulstein yard,

that is due to be handed over in 2020. A whole series of ships have already been fabricated according to this successful design, including two for Acta Marine based in Den Helder. Vuyk Engineering Rotterdam created a design for a state-of-the-art crane vessel that was fabricated under the supervision of Royal IHC in China, and that was handed over to Scaldis Salvage and Marine Contractors from Antwerp, having been christened Gulliver. The vessel is equipped with two cranes, each with a lifting capacity of 2,000 tonnes. Both cranes were built by Huisman, at its yard in China. In 2018, Offshore Ship Designers (OSD) presented a new series of Ice Class vessel designs, especially suited for marine services around the development of new arctic ports, terminals and offshore structures.

Vuyk Engineering Rotterdam produced the design for the new cranevessel Gulliver. (Photograph: PAS Publicaties/maritimephoto.com)

Suppliers One Dutch supplier that attracted huge attention in 2018 was the offshore access supplier Ampelmann. Together with Seaqualize, Ampelmann presented a new type of offshore gangway intended for installation on fast crew suppliers that provides a potential alternative to helicopter transport. The subsea support/W2W vessel VOS Stone, operated by Den Helder-based Vroon Offshore Services was equipped with an Ampelmann A400 gangway system, for deployment on the Arkona Offshore Wind Farm. This gangway system was specially developed for use in the offshore wind energy sector. A second A-type gangway was installed on the W2W emergency response and rescue vessel Kasteelborg operated by Wagenborg Offshore. Elsewhere, E-type gangways were installed on the Olympic Orion and the Viking Neptun. Ampelmann announced the awarding of a total of ten new contracts in the offshore wind energy sector during the course of 2018, together with a series of new contracts and extensions to existing contracts in the oil and gas industry.

On board the Olympic Taurus, a telescopic access bridge from SMST’s M-series was installed. A similar system was then installed on the platform supply vessel Eurus Express. Another contract was signed for the delivery of an access and cargo tower and a 3D motion-compensated crane for the second service operations vessel owned by Bibby Marine Services. On board the ultra-light intervention vessel Conor Bordelon, a 60-tonne SMST knuckle boom crane with active heave compensation was installed.

In February 2018, Huisman supplied a 1,600-tonne crane for the wind turbine installation vessel Aeolus operated by Van Oord. Also during the course of the

The Kasteelborg and the Kroonborg are deployed by NAM/Shell inthe Southern North Sea. (Photograph: Wagenborg Offshore)

year, two 10,000-tonnes tub mounted cranes were built and installed on HMC’s semi-submersible crane vessel Sleipnir. According to Huisman, these are the largest tub mounted cranes in the world. Also under construction at Huisman are four identical cranes for two semi-submersible crane/accommodation vessels, each with a lifting capacity of 2,200 tonnes, while for China Merchants Heavy Industries, the engineering and fabrication work will be undertaken on a drilling system for a new semi-submersible drilling rig. This drilling system will take the form of a dual multipurpose drilling tower.

Vrijhof Anchor’s subsidiary Deep Sea Mooring (DSM) was awarded a contract by Quadrant Energy to provide pre-lay mooring solutions to the TransoceanGSF Development Driller 1 rig off the coast of Australia. Deep Sea Mooring also supplied mooring equipment for

Maersk Drilling in Trinidad and was awarded a contract to provide full-scale mooring and anchoring services to Cooper Energy in Australia. Elsewhere, Vrijhof Anchor signed an agreement with Perenco to supply twelve Stevshark Rex anchors for mooring the La Moumbi FPSO in the Yombo field, off the coast of the Congo. Finally, a contract was signed with dredging contractor Jan de Nul to supply Stevshark Rex anchors for the most powerful cutter suction dredger in the world, the Willem van Rubroek. In mid-April 2018, Lankhorst Ropes announced the completion of the engineering, design, fabrication and delivery of deepwater mooring ropes for Shell’s Appomattox Deepwater Project in the US Gulf of Mexico. According to Lankhorst, this was the longest ever rope meterage for a single deepwater mooring contract.

Support vessels Den Helder-based Vroon Offshore Services took delivery of the brand-new VOS Patriot, the sixth and last in a series of X-bow platform supply vessels of the type Ulstein PX121, at the start of 2018. Immediately following handover, this vessel was set to work in the offshore wind energy sector. The subsea support W2W vessels VOS Star and VOS Sugar, handed over at the end of 2017, were deployed in 2018 for diving work in the Dutch sector of the North Sea, and a long-term contract was signed with BP Exploration and Production for five purpose-built emergency response and rescue vessels, the VOS Fabulous, VOS Vigilant, VOS Innovator, VOS Discovery and VOS Fairness.

The W2W service operations vessel Acta Auriga joined the ActaMarine fleet in 2018. (Photograph: Acta Marine)

On 20 March, Acta Marine took delivery of the brandnew W2W service operations vessel Acta Auriga, fabricated at the Norwegian Ulstein yard according an

SX195 design from Ulstein Design & Solutions. This 93.4 metre-long vessel is equipped with a class 2 dynamic positioning system, an X-bow and X-stern, an SMST motion compensated gangway and a 6-tonne SMST 3D crane. Even before the vessel was completed, Acta Marine had signed a contract with Ocean Breeze Energy for the deployment of the Acta Auriga in the Bard Offshore 1 Wind Farm. For the Den Helder-based operator, following on from the Acta Orion, the Acta Auriga is the second W2W service operations vessel to join the fleet of around 40 workboats. In 2018, Acta Marine decided to order another sister ship for the Acta Auriga from the Ulstein yard. This vessel, that will also offer on-board accommodation for 120 people, will be named the Acta Centaurus, and will be equipped with a helicopter deck. The Acta Centaurus is due to be handed over in the second quarter of 2019.

In the last quarter of 2018, Delfzijl-based Wagenborg Offshore launched its second W2W emergency response and rescue vessel, named the Kasteelborg. Together with the previously completed Kroonborg, this vessel will be deployed in the Southern North Sea for the maintenance of the unmanned gas production platforms of NAM and Shell UK. The Kasteelborg is a converted platform supply vessel of the Ulstein PX121 type.

Finally, SeaZip Offshore Service based in Harlingen took delivery of the 42 metre-long survey vessel SeaZip Fix, equipped with survey equipment and systems for tracing unexploded ordnance on the seabed. The SeaZip Fix is an ice class-built vessel, equipped with a dp1 system. The vessel has already been deployed for a cable route survey for the offshore wind farms Borssele 1 and 2 n

The VOS Stone is equipped with an Ampelmann W2W gangwaysystem. (Photograph: PAS Publicaties)