Covid-19 accelerates DP remote surveying

The coronavirus pandemic has led to a significant rise in remote annual surveys and trials of dynamic positioning (DP) systems for vessels supporting offshore oil, gas and renewables industries.

This has opened new opportunities for specialists such as LOC Group, which joined forces with AqualisBraemar in December 2020.

Its subsidiary in Germany secured work with Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) to provide remote DP trials on vessels operating in the Windea Offshore fleet.

The workscope for these agreements includes preparation of the remote DP trial programme and providing marine engineering consulting on DP systems for two OSVs supporting windfarm operations along the coastlines of Germany and the Netherlands.

LOC is providing remote DP surveys on 2016-built, 88-m Windea La Cour and 2017-built sister vessel Windea Leibniz, both managed by BSM. These are German-flagged and classed by DNV GL.

As part of the work, LOC Germany will also provide remote DP survey services on DP-2 class LNG bunker supply vessel, Kairos, also managed by BSM. However, it does not include another Windea offshore windfarm service vessel, the 2020-built, 93.4-m Windea Jules Verne.

LOC Germany general manager Emek Ersin Takmaz said it was able to use its experience as a DP specialist to enter the German market through the BSM contract.

“It has enabled the group to expand its capabilities within offshore wind operations, working together with BSM’s offshore supply vessels,” he said.

LOC established an office in Germany in June 2019 to provide specialist marine surveys and inspections, condition and suitability surveys.

This London-headquartered company has already built considerable business providing marine warranty surveys for offshore oil and windfarm support vessels.

In December, its Aberdeen, Scotland office secured contracts to provide warranty surveys and vessel assurance and marine engineering services in the North Sea.

These include remote surveys and procedures for vessel assurance and suitability surveys, which help minimise the time specialists need to be onboard a vessel and reduces the risk of Covid-19 infection.

LOC Aberdeen has been awarded contracts supporting local, national, and international businesses in energy development projects, including on-hire vessel inspections, failure mode effect analysis services, DP trials and gap analysis services.

LOC Aberdeen managing director Adrian Torry said the contracts were across offshore oil and gas and the renewables industry.

On 23 November, AqualisBraemar entered into an agreement to purchase 100% of LOC Group shares. On 21 December it completed the acquisition for a purchase price of US$20.2M in cash, plus two million conditional warrants in AqualisBraemar.

AqualisBraemar LOC chief executive David Wells said this transaction doubled the size of the group and assisted in expanding into the rapidly growing offshore renewables industry.

“Our objective is that 50% of our revenues should come from the renewables sector and other sustainability and CO₂-reducing activities in 2025,” said Mr Wells.