Ulstein to Build Its Largest Offshore Construction Vessel Ever

Edison Chouest Offshore and Island Offshore are ordering two new OCV vessels through the company Island Ventures II LLC. One vessel will be built at Ulstein Verft, Norway, one in USA.

Ulstein Verft has been contracted to build a new offshore construction vessel of the ULSTEIN SX165 design. This will be the largest vessel built at the yard so far, as well as its largest single shipbuilding contract. The vessel is scheduled for delivery Q3 2015.
“We are very pleased to develop the next generation of offshore vessels together with Edison Chouest Offshore and Island Offshore. They are companies with solid and extensive experience. We have worked very well together on other innovative projects, and look forward to delivering a high-quality product that will serve the ship owners well for years to come,” says CEO Gunvor Ulstein, Ulstein Group.
“This is a demanding and challenging construction project, which suits us in every respect. We have a solid organisation that will carry out all the engineering work. Our group can offer world-class yard facilities and designs which attract attention from both crews and ship owners. We are ready, and looking forward to the assignment,” says Kristian Sætre, managing director, Ulstein Verft.

First ULSTEIN design in USA

Island Ventures II LLC has also ordered design and engineering packages for the construction of an ULSTEIN SX165 design vessel at Edison Chouest’s own yard in the United States. In addition, this agreement includes options. This will be the first ULSTEIN designed vessel to be constructed in the U.S.
“We look forward to adding these vessels to our fleet. The cooperation between our companies is excellent and we look forward to working with ULSTEIN on the construction of these multifunctional vessels,” says CEO Gary Chouest, Edison Chouest Offshore.
Island Offshore’s current fleet includes four vessels from ULSTEIN. In addition, a construction vessel for Island Ventures II LLC is currently under construction at Ulstein Verft for delivery in June 2014.

Facts about the vessels
The newly developed SX165 design has many qualities. The vessel is 28 metres wide and 145.7 metres long and can accommodate 200 people. She is equipped with two cranes that can lift 400 tons and 140 tons, respectively. She has a large moon pool measuring 11.2 by 12 metres plus two smaller moon pools with ROVs installed in a centrally located hangar. The vessel has a total of three separate engine rooms to provide extreme operational reliability: if a major error occurs and one of the engine rooms goes out of service, the ship will still have two-thirds of her operational capacity.
Health, safety and the environment have been fully considered in the development of this design. For example, the vessel will be delivered in accordance with the international regulation MLC2006 that sets out the comfort and safety requirements for the crew. The ship has four lifeboats, two on each side. In addition, the vessel is equipped with SCR catalyst system for NOx emission reduction.

Press Release, October 25, 2013

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Ulstein Presents Benefits of Its SX121 Design

Advancement in technology is permitting the offshore oil and gas industry to move into progressively deeper and colder waters in remote locations. ULSTEIN supports this development by providing products and solutions that contribute to safer, smarter and greener operations.

A case in point is the versatile and flexible OCV/subsea vessel design SX121, which ULSTEIN is currently building customized versions of for GC Rieber Shipping and Island Offshore. The design can be tailored for a multitude of offshore construction and subsea operations in deep and ultra-deep waters both below and above the Arctic Circle.

Deepwater and ultra-deepwater projects occur outside of the continental shelf at water depths between 400 and 1,500 metres and depths greater than 1,500 metres respectively. Deep waters mean remote locations, harsh weather conditions and sensitive ecosystems. This type of environment requires vessels that are reliable and safe, cost-efficient and environmentally sound.

“We aim to develop ships that can operate reliably, safely and efficiently in harsh conditions with as small an environmental footprint as possible. The robust configuration, system integration and X-BOW® hull line of the SX121 ensure safety and comfort for the crew, an increased operational window and significantly reduced environmental impact,” says sales manager in Ulstein Design & Solutions, Lars Ståle Skoge.

Currently, there are four sailing SX121 vessels designed and built by ULSTEIN. The vessels, which operate in different segments such as offshore construction, riserless well intervention and inspection/maintenance/repair, have received very good feedback.

Gordon L. Wilkinson in Veolia ES said the following about ‘Viking Poseidon’’s work in the Gulf of Mexico: “She is the Queen of the Gulf.”

At the end of 2012 shipowner Island Offshore, together with their American partner Edison Chouest Offshore, ordered another SX121 vessel from ULSTEIN currently under construction at Ulstein Verft. “We’ve received very good feedback on our two operating vessels of this design, ‘Island Constructor’ and ‘Island Intervention’,” says Technical Manager in Island Offshore, Trond Hauge. “I’m confident that this type of vessel is a safe and comfortable platform for the performance of advanced work in the years to come.”

Optimized for heavier installations

“The SX121 is a compact vessel that can perform deepwater and ultra-deepwater operations for which currently larger vessels are frequently used, thus providing the customer with a more cost-efficient solution,” says Håvard Stave, Sales Manager in Ulstein Verft.

“The typical SX121 vessel operates at depths down to 3,000 metres, which comprises most current oil & gas activities. The need to deploy heavier equipment in deep waters such as offshore Brazil and Africa and in the Gulf of Mexico, has spurred market interest in OCV vessels with a 400-tonne crane, which we’ve now incorporated in the SX121 design.”

ULSTEIN has drawn on experiences from its latest SX121 projects, and optimized the utilization of the hull with regards to work from deck as well as crane construction work, resulting in an even more versatile OCV/subsea vessel.

The robust platform is optimized for efficient operations in deep waters with a crane capacity of up to 400 tonnes and a substantial remaining deck loading capacity, and it can be configured for a variety of mission equipment. There is a large deck area of 1,750 m2, and the area around the main moon pool is reinforced in order to sustain a VLS or module handling system. The ROV installation is designed and chosen for operations in significant wave heights of 4.5 metres or more. Two heavy-duty work ROVs are situated in the enclosed hangar, one to be deployed from the starboard side, the other through a dedicated moon pool.

Extended redundancy

A reliable vessel is key for cost-efficiency, as down-time and aborting on-going operations are costly affairs, particularly when operating far from shore.

The SX121 vessel meets the highest standard for position keeping, DYNPOS-AUTRO, with redundancy on all major components. Featuring the ‘Operation+’ concept, an increase in redundancy in AUTR operations if a single major failure occurs, the vessel will still maintain system redundancy throughout the most critical areas. The typical configuration is diesel electric propulsion powered by six identical medium speed main generator sets. The switchboard system, propellers and diesel motors can be configured in groups of two, three or four. If a major failure occurs, the vessel will only lose one third of its power and propulsion. The combination of system architecture and power stations, three side thrusters and three main thrusters, ensures that the operation can be safely completed using two thirds of its capacity.

Smart and safe

In order to optimize capacities and performance of the vessel, the freeboard has been increased by one metre compared with the previously built vessels of this design. This increase also improves safety and ensures a dry work deck. In addition, the helideck has been moved further back in order to increase the weather window for helicopter landings.

The vessel’s X-BOW provides good motion characteristics for safe operations. It also reduces the vessel’s environmental footprint through lower fuel consumption and reduced emissions. With optimized resolution of the power generation plant, the vessel will have high fuel efficiency in all operational modes.

The vessel accommodates a crew of 130 and complies with all international requirements for comfort and safety.

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Norway: Expro’s AX-S System Installed on Havyard’s Havila Phoenix Vessel

There are great things happening aboard the vessel “Havila Phoenix” nowadays. During the last two years there have been installations and tests of a whole new system likely to revolutionise the offshore light well intervention market.

The vessel, a Havyard 858 design, is designed and constructed by the ship technology group, Havyard Group AS, and owned by Havila Shipping, both located in Fosnavåg at the west coast of Norway. The offshore construction vessel was delivered from Havyard Ship Technology in Leirvik, Norway in 2009.

The vessel has over the last year-and-a-half been working on a contract for Fugro-Salt Subsea, part of the massive Fugro group, which is a Dutch-based corporation with more than 14.000 employees spread across 60 countries. Fugro-Salt Subsea cooperates with Expro in terms of developing the new “AX-S”-system aboard Havila`s advanced construction vessel.

So far the development of this new system has been running for seven years and cost NOK 1.2 billion in research and investments in ground-breaking new technology. The breakthrough appeared around a month ago when tests in the Norwegian Onarheim fjord proved very successful.

“AX-S” is a brand new system for well intervention involving remote-controlled subsea tools. The new system is, according to both the Havila management and the management of Fugro-Salt Subsea, a revolutionary system using solutions so far never utilised in subsea operations from a construction vessel. This involves employing extremely advanced remote-controlled subsea tools during well intervention that can handle up to eight different tools within the same operation, as well as using a light fibre rope instead of heavy steel wires. These are the main elements of the recent innovation. Should the system also win approval in a business sense, it could have a major impact on the offshore light well intervention market.

STABLE HAVYARD VESSEL

In the last year-and-a-half the 110 metre long vessel, a ship now docked in the port of Montrose between Dundee and Aberdeen, Scotland, has looked more like a research station than an offshore vessel. Havila Phoenix has been outfitted with a 35 metre tall tower and several modules on deck with a combined weight of over 500 tonnes. And there is no coincidence that the Scottish group has chosen a Havyard 858 design for this unique project.

– We needed a big, solid and modern vessel, and Havila Phoenix has lived up to all our expectations. If we fully succeed with this project we will likely be looking to acquire vessels of a similar design, but we will then need to be part of the planning straight from the start and get more of the system directly integrated below deck, says Operation Manager Darren Bown of AX-S.

The captain of Havila Phoenix, Leif Magne Lynge from Gursken, Norway, confirms that the vessel still remains impressively stable despite the enormous added weight.

– Yes, things have been working really well and the vessel also performs really well for its purpose. Facilities are also excellent, says Lynge who`s been captain aboard the vessel since the initial delivery. Captain and crew are definitely looking forward to heading out to the North Sea in order to start using this exciting new system.

UNIQUE REMOTE-CONTROLLED TOOLS

Michael Earlam of Fugro-Salt Subsea informs that there are several factors making the AX-S system a world sensation. In addition to the utilization of fibre ropes instead of wires for AX-S deployment, Earlam emphasizes the remote-controlled handling and deployment of the subsea packages with the ability to deploy 8 subsea tools is each time is unique.

– By using traditional well intervention equipment you can only perform one task at a time before the equipment needs to be raised to the surface in order to swap tools and then perform a subsequent operation. The equipment used in the AX-S system manages to handle eight various tools while on the seabed, without having to be raised to the surface to swap over any tools. This makes the operation much more effective and cost-efficient, Michael Earlam informs.

And after seven years of preparation the system is nearing its baptism of fire. In September, Havila Phoenix with 500 tonnes of “subsea factory” on deck will be heading out to work in the British sector of the North Sea.

– Yes, following the successful commissioning of the AX-S system on NUTEC’s “cold well” in Onharheimsfjord, south of Bergen, during April and May be performing operations in the North Sea, the Operations Manager for AX-S, Darren Bown of Expro, confirms.

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Eidesvik Orders Large Subsea Vessel from Kleven (Norway)

Eidesvik has today entered into a contract with Kleven Maritime for building of a large subsea vessel with delivery Q2 2014. The contract has a value of above 1 billion NOK (USD 165 million) and is the largest single investment in the company’s history.

The vessel has a length of 145 m and a beam of 31 m. It is equipped with 2 offshore cranes on 400 MT and 100 MT respectively. Deadweight is 13500 MT. Furthermore the vessel is prepared for operation in artic waters.

The vessel is developed by Eidesvik in close cooperation with SALT Ship Design and Kleven Maritime with make SALT 301 OCV. Throughout the design period there has been a high focus on environmental friendly solutions and the vessel is well prepared to meet any future environmental requirements, also in vulnerable areas.

“We have a firm belief in the market for this type of vessel, and we are very confident that this is a correct strategic step for the company”, says Jan Fredrik Meling, Chief Executive Officer, Eidesvik Offshore ASA.

“This enhances our position as a leading operator of subsea vessels.”

It is expected that this investment will strengthen the company’s profitability substantially. It will create 50 new job opportunities and will increase the activity considerably for Eidesvik.

Eidesvik has option for building of a sister vessel for delivery early 2015.

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GC Rieber Shipping Orders Subsea Vessel from Ulstein (Norway)

GC Rieber Shipping has today ordered a new high capacity subsea vessel from Ulstein Verft with an option of one additional vessel. The new building, to be delivered in the first quarter of 2014, represents a total investment of approximately NOK 800 million.

“The market for this type of vessel is expected to be attractive going forward. This investment is consistent with our strategy to strengthen our position in the high end subsea segment. We have an attractive and flexible ship design with interesting potential also in the SURF market as well as a favorable delivery date,” says CEO Irene W. Basili in GC Rieber Shipping.

GC Rieber Shipping concluded 2011 with a fully booked fleet and significantly improved operational performance. The company expects a strong demand within advanced subsea operations in the coming years, which has been the basis for making this investment now.

The vessel is a construction support vessel “CSV” designed to operate in harsh and deep waters with length of 130m and beam of 25m. It is built to the highest standard for dynamic positioning DP-3 and equipped with a 250t AHC offshore crane. Furthermore, the ship is designed to operate in the SURF market, with capacity for pipe loads below deck and on main deck, and a vertical pipe lay system above the moon pool.

The vessel will carry two ROVs; one is to be launched from the starboard side and the other through a moonpool. The ship has a large cargo deck for OCV work. She will have diesel electric propulsion and three main azimuth thrusters. The vessel can accommodate 130 persons and will be constructed in accordance with the latest international environmental regulations.

Basili looks forward to a positive partnership with Ulstein Verft. “GC Rieber Shipping has over many years developed considerable competence in the design of specialized vessels, and the constructive cooperation we have experienced with Ulstein to accommodate for our requirements , has been important. GC Rieber Shipping positions itself in the more challenging niches of the offshore market, and I am very comfortable that we will receive a top-class vessel from Ulstein,” says Basili.

”GC Rieber Shipping is a solid and experienced shipowner, and we are pleased that they have chosen ULSTEIN for this project. Subsea is one of our focus areas, and we will deliver a state-of-the-art offshore construction vessel (OCV) that will serve the shipowner well in the years to come,” states Gunvor Ulstein, CEO in Ulstein Group.

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Turkey: Tersan Shipyard Splashes Multipurpose Offshore Construction Vessel Grand Canyon

Tersan Shipyard launched Multipurpose Offshore Construction Vessel, Grand Canyon with the honorable presences of Norway Prime Minister Mr. Jens Stoltenberg and Turkey Minister of Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communication Mr. Binali Yıldırım.

Grand Canyon is a cooperation of Tersan Shipyard with Bergen Fosen in order to build a very high standard Offshore Construction Vessel for the Owner, Volstad Maritime. Grand Canyon is a 125m long, 25 m width, electric propulsion offshore vessel with Helicopter deck, DP III notation, 6 pcs of Side Maneuvering Thrusters and accommodation for 108 persons.

During the ceremony, Mr. Stoltenberg pointed out that it was no coincidence that the launch was on his itinerary during his visit to Turkey.

“Norway and Turkey have a long tradition of business cooperation in the maritime sector. Tersan shipyard alone now has a total of eight ships on order for Norwegian interests, worth a total of almost NOK 2 billion,” Mr Stoltenberg said.

Mr Stoltenberg was also able to see the M/S Høydal, a Norwegian ship which is being built at the yard on behalf of the company NSK Shipping, based in North Norway. The M/S Høydal is a specially designed cargo ship that will be assigned to the fish feed manufacturer BioMar in Norway. This will be the world’s first LNG-powered coaster, and the vessel should be ready to load her first cargo in Norway in May 2012. The M/S Høydal will have a cargo capacity of 2200 tonnes of fish feed, making her the world’s largest operational fish feed cargo vessel. Natural gas (LNG) propulsion will make the vessel environmentally friendly and reduce emissions of NOx (nitrogen oxides) by over 90 %.

Mr. Binali pointed out the increased capacities of Turkish Shipyards, highlighted that he had attended to another launching ceremony in Tersan Shipyard just 4 months ago, this represents Tersan Shipyards and Turkey’s achieved high level of Ship production as well as quality; “When I was the General Manager of IDO, Turkey used to import ships from Norway just 10 years ago now we are exporting vessel to Norway” said Mr. Yildirim.

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Norway: North Sea Giant Stays with Technip

Technip Norge AS have declared an option to the existing contract for the 2012-season on the OCV “NORTH SEA GIANT” and will now retain the vessel until end 2013.

The vessel will be employed on a number of large subsea construction projects in the North Sea during 2012, including flex-lay duties on Goliat-project in Barents Sea.

Technip also holds options for the vessel for 2014 and 2015.

M/V North Sea Giant has been designed for long term construction works in the open sea, supporting a crew of 120 people . The ship has a heliport, exercise hall, movie theater and sauna. There are two cranes on deck, one with a load capacity of 400 tons and the other 250 tons.

The vessel  is one of the biggest OCV in the world at this moment. It is 156 meters long, 30 meters beam and over 22 MW of installed power.

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Last Position Received

 

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