Multirole emergency response and rescue vessels Biscay Sentinel and Bailey Sentinel are respectively the seventh and eighth vessels of their type to join Sentinel Marine’s fleet.
Built at the Cosco Guangzhou shipyard in China, Biscay Sentinel was delivered in March 2018 and Bailey Sentinel in August. A further vessel is under construction and expected to enter service in late 2018.
Sentinel Marine chief executive officer Rory Deans said: “The offshore environment can be unpredictable and so safety is of the utmost importance to operators working at sea.
“Many emergency response and rescue vessels (ERRVs) in operation are repurposed fishing or supply vessels; however, by designing our fleet from the ground up, we have been able to ensure that it is fully equipped with everything our crews require to keep our clients safe offshore.” He added that “fuel efficiency, too, is far greater in a purpose-built ERRV than that of a repurposed vessel.”
Sentinel’s ERRV fleet is designed to carry out multiple tasks beyond rescue, including cargo storage and oil recovery.
Biscay Sentinel measures 65 m in length by 16.6 m in breadth; it has a maximum draft of 5.4 m and a 1,450 dwt. It is fitted with a 600 kW azimuthing thruster as well as two 700 kW tunnel thrusters, one apiece in the bow and stern of the vessel. It also operates a Kongsberg dynamic positioning (DP) system with a class of DP2. Bailey Sentinel measures 62 m in length, 15.5 m in breadth, has a maximum draft of 4.6 m and a dwt of 1,900. Its Kongsberg DP system gives it a notation of DP1.
The vessels each carry a 15-person FSRQ 1000A daughter craft, a 15-person FRSQ 700A fast rescue craft (FRC) and can also carry an optional 15-person Avon Searider. Both the daughter craft and the FRC are launched from davits, with shock absorbers and integrated towing booms on Biscay Senitnel, while Bailey Sentinel’s FRC is crane-launched.
Biscay Sentinel has a rescue tow bollard pull of 100 tonnes (Bailey Sentinel - 30 tonnes) and both are fitted with an anti-pollution system, including a 5 m3 dispersant tank, spray booms and pump, a Desmi Terminator Skimmer oil recovery system and, in Biscay Sentinel’s case, a Furuno oil-detection radar.
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