Propulsion has been ordered for the world’s first double-acting, shallow-draught ice-breaking offshore support vessel
Steerprop’s azimuth propulsion has been selected to propel a walk-to-work (W2W) vessel being built in a Dutch shipyard for operation in the Arctic conditions offshore Russia’s Far East.
Dutch shipyard Royal Niestern Sander is constructing this vessel for Russian companies Mercury Sakhalin and Pola.
This W2W vessel will be employed to transfer service technicians and equipment to and from offshore platforms off Sakhalin Island. It will operate year-round in harsh ice conditions and shallow waters from its delivery, scheduled for December 2021.
For this project, Steerprop is supplying two SP 60 PULL ARC propulsors with an input power of 2,200 kW each, to be delivered to the shipyard in June 2021. It is also providing the propulsion control and condition monitoring systems for this W2W vessel.
“This vessel is designed to have maximum ice-breaking capacity stern first and is capable of breaking 1 m of ice,” said Steerprop sales manager Olli Knihti.
“It will be working in shallow waters, which is a restricting factor for the propulsion system,” he continued. “The vessel will be operating in challenging ice and weather conditions where reliability and efficient performance are mandatory.”
Royal Niestern Sander is building this 76-m vessel, with a beam of 14 m, to Bureau Veritas’ icebreaker 5 ice class rules.
“The propulsors’ ice-breaking power will really be put to the test,” said Mr Knihti. Shallow waters of these operations will also be a test for the propulsion and vessel.
“One specialty with our azimuth solution is the ability to direct the slipstream from the propeller in a full 360º,” he explained.
“It means that the propeller race can be used to widen fairways, blow ice ridges or for example free Arctic offshore installations from ice.”
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