Singaporean boatbuilder builds series of air-cushioned catamaran vessels and diesel battery-hybrid crewboats for offshore oil and gas operations
Safety, efficiency, lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reduced operational costs remain top of mind for offshore oil and gas producers. Many of the design elements that have been pioneered in crew transfer vessels (CTVs) for offshore windfarm operations are now being embraced in a new generation of crewboats for offshore oil and gas.
This is evident in a series of high-speed surface effect ships (SES) under construction in Singapore at Strategic Marine. The Singaporean shipyard is building three Aircat 35 Crewliner that are based on designs from Aircat Vessels (SAS). The French firm has partnered with SES specialist design house Espeland and Skomedal Naval Architects (ESNA) on the series of air-cushioned catamarans that are targeted for completion later this year for operation in the offshore oil and gas sector.
An agreement between the Norwegian naval architectural firm and Strategic Marine will see a greater level of collaboration between the parties to jointly develop SES CTVs for oil and gas, offshore wind, security and defence applications.
Strategic Marine chief executive, Eng Yew Chen, said the agreement will allow the shipyard to “expand the portfolio of SES designs and offer vessels with this very exciting technology to a wider range of our customers.” The Singapore shipbuilders will start construction of its first offshore windfarm SES CTV in Q4 2024.
“The low SES resistance offers fuel savings and reduced emissions”
ESNA, which pioneered the SES CTV Sea Puffin 1 in 2018 with WindPartner, says the active SES motion damping system provides better seakeeping and higher passenger comfort than what is possible with conventional monohulls and catamarans. “It is also used at the wind turbines to allow turbine transfers in higher wave heights. The low SES resistance offers fuel savings and reduced emissions in combination with the increased speed,” says ESNA.
Aircraft 35 Crewliners are the most ambitious air-cushioned catamaran design yet. The 35.1 m vessel has two side hulls like a catamaran, however with the added feature of flexible rubber sealing fore and aft between the hulls. Fans blow air into this air cushion between the hulls and rubber seals, partly lifting the vessel out of the water, reducing resistance and allowing for very fuel-efficient and high-speed performance. The Aircat 35 Crewliner has a seating capacity of 80, cargo deck space of 60 m2, and a projected cruising speed of more than 50 knots and economical speed of 38 knots.
Battery-hybrid crewboats
Strategic Marine has also delivered the first of two diesel battery-hybrid crewboats for Thai offshore vessel owner Truth Maritime Services (TMS). This series has a seating capacity for 70 passengers and is based on the aluminium boatbuilder’s Gen 4 Fast Crew Boat (FCB) design.
TMS owns a fleet of 13 crewboats that are used to ferry offshore personnel and cargo to support offshore oil and gas E&P and on-going maintenance of platforms in southeast Asia.
Strategic Marine ‘s 42-m Gen 4 FCB design, a collaboration with Australia’s Southerly Designs, has a highly efficient new hull form and Z-bow which improves seakeeping and requires less power for the same speed and deadweight tonnage, reducing fuel consumption and lowering emissions.
The hybrid solution uses an energy storage system to capture and harnesses energy generated by the main engines for various applications on the vessel to reduce GHG emissions.
The strengthened deck of the Gen 4 FCB provides the option for a walk-to-work system to be installed, with a motion-compensated gangway. This technology can be combined with a gyro-stabiliser adding further stability for safe transfers even in adverse weather conditions.
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