Another O&M vessel concept

A new vessel concept from German partners Heavylift@Sea and SeaRenergy Offshore, the OAV (Offshore Assistance Vessel), could promise a further development in the field of Service Operation Vessels.

It focusses on efficiency in O&M (Operations and Maintenance) and is therefore able to stay on location for several weeks offering more working time and less time in transit.

The shape of the vessel is designed to reduce motions and increase comfort for technicians in order to mitigate risk of sea sickness and weather downtime, especially in the harsh conditions of the North Sea. It accommodates up to 60 persons in comfortable single cabins, embedded in a true passenger ship class vessel including two day rooms, auditorium and a fitness room.

The configuration enables an efficient flow of people and spare parts around the vessel. The motion compensated gangway, which is accessible directly from the elevator grants direct access to wind turbines and offshore platforms in significant wave heights of up to 2.5 m, arranged for workability at water levels of +/- 4.0 m around MSL. With the cargo transfer system, a barrier-free handling of spare parts and components weighing up to 300 kg is possible without using a crane.

For accessing other offshore structures when the vessel is moored, it is equipped with a daughter craft in its own hangar at the stern. Heavylift@Sea says the hangar increases the safety of launch and recovery of the daughtercraft, especially in rough weather conditions.

“Our new design already reflects the new requirements regarding sea-keeping behavior and comfort for technicians combined with cost reductions will lead to increasing demand in SOVs.”, Hendrik Groene, Managing Director of Heavylift@Sea said, “We see already, that this new vessel class replaces older units coming from the oil & gas segment“.

“The O&M market is only starting, and therefore demand for SOVs will grow with commissioned wind farms.”, Dr. Benjamin Vordemfelde, Managing Director of SeaRenergy said, “SOVs are an attractive market segment with an excellent perspective offering stable growth and attractive charters. Therefore we see the market entry into the SOV segment as the logical next step to develop our company further and also meet the growing demand for this new vessel class.“