Barcelona-based Marcelo Penna Engineering’s MP625 design is one of several new vessel concepts that seek to compete with helicopters in the long-range crew transfer marketplace.
The design combines a stable trimaran hullform with dynamic positioning class 2 (DP2) and fire-fighting to FiFi 1 standard. The design can be customised for a range of operational profiles, such as crew and personnel transfer, fast supply, emergency response and rescue, rig evacuation and oil-spill response.
The MP625 is a diesel-direct vessel with four fixed-pitch propellers or four waterjets, according to the customer’s requirements, and two bow thrusters forward, one of them retractable. It is designed to maintain position in a sea state with waves of up to Hs 3.5–4.0 m. Accommodation is on the lower deck, with a personnel transfer room on the main deck and a VIP transfer room on the bridge deck. The wheelhouse is integrated into the forepart of the superstructure, and a DP control room is integrated into the aft side of the superstructure house at the bridge deck.
A fast recue craft with its davit-type launch and recovery system can be installed on the main deck to the starboard side, with the compensated crew transfer system amidships to the port or starboard side of the vessel.
The company has also begun working on technology based on foils to increase the speed of the vessel in pure crew transfer mode, while improving fuel consumption/speed, workability, overall capability and operational flexibility.
Marcelo Penna Engineering technical manager and senior naval architect Javier Lopez said: “Our simulations have helped us develop a design with a maximum speed of 41 knots at 85% MCR, with an initial draught of 2.45 m before ‘take-off’ at a speed at 21 knots.”
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