NAO-Guardian-at-oil-rig-in-2013

Field trips to the North Sea

​Ship designers from Ulstein visited three different Ulstein designed ships operating in the North Sea during the winter of 2015. The purpose was to understand operations and to retrieve inputs from the crews, in order to further develop and improve our ship designs and solutions.
Published
22 April 2015
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  • Seven Viking
  • Inside the hangar of the Seven Viking
    The Seven Viking deck foreman in conversation with two of the Ulstein representatives.
  • Life on the bridge on Seven Viking
    The Captain and his crew at work on the bridge.
  • Electricians at the Gullfaks A rig
    The Seven Viking electrician and a trainee on the aft deck next to the Gullfaks A oil rig.
  • Intense activity in the subsea control room
    ROV pilots co-working around the ROV monitors on the Seven Viking.
  • Work ROV about to be deployed.
    One of the two work ROVs on the Seven Viking is about to be deployed.
  • Regular inspection conclusion
    One of the regular inspection rounds on the Seven Viking is here coming to a conclusion.
  • Engine room inspection
    Regular inspections on board are being carried out, this is one of the engine rooms on the Seven Viking
  • Aft deck when heading offshore.
    Rough seas while steaming to the oil field.
  • Retrieval of the transponder.
    The transponder is used for underwater positioning.
  • Crane maintenance on Seven Viking.
    Regular maintenance is carried out.
  • Ulstein representatives communicated findings to their colleagues from three different field trips during 2015.
    Inge Sleipnes, Frode Sollid, Tonje Øyehaug Ruud, Snorre Hjelseth (Oslo School of Architecture and Design), Torgrim Driveklepp and Arne Straume have been on field trips on Ulstein designed vessels.

The designers visited the two platform supply vessels, NAO Thunder and NAO Guardian (design type PX121), and the IMR vessel Seven Viking (design type SX148). The trips lasted one day, four days, and six days, respectively. All vessels operate in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.

At Ulstein Group, we design and build offshore vessels. We also have interests in ship investments. The ship designers can watch their designs being constructed outside their office windows. However, they seldom get a chance to be on board the vessels when in operation. When on board, they'll get feedback directly from crews and make their own experiences.

"The weather was quite bad, but the vessel coped splendidly - as did we," comments Torgrim Driveklepp, senior designer hydrodynamics, who spent six days on the 'Seven Viking'.

"I characterize us as lucky when getting the opportunity to visit the vessels in rough winterly weather. All our people who attended these trips experienced the vessels' movements when it's getting choppy," comments the design manager at Ulstein Design & Solutions AS, Frode Sollid. 

He continues:
"The experience gained is of incredible value to us in further developing our designs and solutions. Now is the time to make our well-reputed offshore vessels even better."

Snorre Hjelseth, a co-partner from Oslo School of Architecture and Design, was on board all three field trips, while Frode Sollid was responsible for the planning and implementation of all three field trips.

An ROV deployed next to the oil rig

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