France-based Louis Dreyfus Armateurs has contracted Norwegian offshore crane provider TTS to supply a new service operations vessel that will work on Orsted’s 1400MW Hornsea 2 offshore wind farm.
The NB67 SOV, being built at the Cemre Shipyard in Turkey, will include TTS’ Colibri crane and Horizon walk-to-work gangway. The vessel is due for delivery in 2021.
In addition, the equipment package design does away with operator cabins as the crane and gangway will be controlled from TTS’ remote operator technology, Phoenix.
TTS Group executive vice president for energy Mette Harv said: “Phoenix is the first step in our roadmap towards autonomous operations for offshore vessels.
“Traditionally, the operator has been bound to sitting in a cabin mounted on or near the equipment. With Phoenix the operator can control the equipment in a far more accurate, efficient and safe manner.”
The remote operator system can be located anywhere on the vessel. From the same chair, the operator can control the crane, gangway, cargo logistics system or any other complex deck machinery on-board, according to Harv.
“There are systems on the market than can control both crane and gangway from the vessel’s bridge, but Phoenix represents a paradigm shift in this market segment,” she added.
The first Colibri, developed by TTS with its partner Ulstein, was recently installed on-board LDA’s vessel Wind of Change, due to enter service in 2019 to work on Borkum Riffgrund 1 & 2 and Gode Wind 1 & 2 offshore wind farms.
Ulstein marketing and sales manager Nick Wessels said: “Seeing that the Colibri is functioning just as simulated in the HIL test is quite astonishing.
“Our engineers and the project team deserve a huge compliment for this great achievement, as they turned their vision into reality.
LDA’s NB67 SOV, designed by Salt Ship Design, has a hybrid propulsion system using diesel generators and ABB’s on-board DC Grid, which will power the gangway, regenerating energy for storing in the vessel’s battery, cutting fuel consumption.
LDA head of new building Herve Lapierre said: “We are always looking for solutions to conserve energy, improve the logistics process, increase operational safety and enhance on-board comfort, so that our fleet is at the cutting edge of technical innovation in our market segments.
“So, when TTS presented their all-electric gangway Horizon, we saw the potential to integrate it in our new-build in a simple and robust manner.”
Lapierre added: “The efficiency of logistics operations will get a boost from Phoenix as our operators can seamlessly change between using the gangway and the crane within a matter of seconds.
“If the systems work as well as the simulations and analysis show, a new standard for SOVs will be set in the market.”