The words above come from Sebastian Zehmke-Marahrens, who is marine operations manager at Deutsche Offshore Consult (DOC).
DOC is the marine advisor to Ocean Breeze Energy, owner and operator of the windfarm BARD Offshore 1.
Sebastian continues:
"We needed to be sure that the vessel would be able to fulfil the scope of work requested. We looked at several factors, including the entire set-up of the vessel, the technical feasibility and capability, and what it can offer to this windfarm."
The X-STERN is a benefit
"This vessel has a motion compensated gangway system with a lift, and a 3D, fully motion compensated, cargo crane capable of lifting 6 tons," says Sebastian.
"There is much cargo space, with deck capacity for totally 24 containers, and a large part is covered and in a climate-controlled area. There is accommodation for 120 people, of which most in single cabins. The X-STERN® is a benefit, and an additional advantage to the vessel, as well as low fuel consumption".
Centrally-placed crane and gangway
"A part of the requirement was to have the crane and gangway in the centre of the vessel, because we noticed we would be losing significant operational time if we were only to use the crane and gangway on one side of the vessel," emphasizes Sebastian.
"Performance will be better"
Erik Willemssen, General Manager Operations Offshore at Acta Marine comments:
"We've made an effort in making the vessel a good work place. There are comfortable areas around the galley, including a library and a game room. The vessel has high comfort class and is isolated very well. We want to make sure the personnel feel taken good care of, for them to perform their best. There will be no slamming with the X-STERN when going in astern mode, which a DP vessel will naturally do, as the work scope with the crane and gangway are at the stern. With this vessel, performance will be better."
"The vessel will perform logistical support for Ocean Breeze Energy's maintenance activities on its wind farm," explains Sebastian.
"We believe there will be a tremendous performance advantage with this vessel: It will reduce the time needed to bring the teams to the turbine significantly, and we can therefore access more turbines per day. This is the next generation dedicated SOV, specifically designed to perform the best of service on the BARD Offshore 1 wind farm," he concludes.
