Bureau Veritas publishes guidelines for Offshore Access Systems

Leading international classification society Bureau Veritas has developed guidelines for walk-to-work (W2W) motion compensated Offshore Access Systems (OAS) which are used to transfer industrial personnel to and from offshore installations. Guidance Note NI629 Certification of Offshore Access Systems provides a clear and comprehensive overview of the safety principles and technical requirements for the design, manufacturing and operation of reliable and dependable equipment for the safe transfer of personnel at sea.

Matthieu de Tugny, Senior Vice-President and Head of Offshore, Bureau Veritas, says, "Getting people safely onto and off unmanned platforms and wind farm towers offshore has become a big issue. Walk-to-Work OAS can provide significant safety, operability and/or cost advantages over more traditional personnel transfer methods such as personnel basket or capsule lifts, step-over from high speed crew transfer vessels and helicopter transfers. We see a lot of new vessel types emerging with these motion-compensated gangways and it is imperative that the industry has a standard against which to assess their safety and to help develop safe new designs.”

Two different offshore access technologies have emerged: passive transfer gangways, which are first connected to the offshore installation and then put in free-flow mode for personnel transfer, and active transfer gangways which remain motion compensated during personnel transfer. The safety issues and critical components, which differ from one category to the other, require special attention to ensure safe and reliable operation.

Says De Tugny, “With these new guidelines the regulatory gap into which personnel transfer between offshore support vessels and offshore installations could fall has been closed.”

Guidance Note NI629 can be downloaded from www.veristar.com.

For a very nice hi-res photo e mail john@merlinco.com

Bureau Veritas is a world leader in laboratory testing, inspection and certification services. Created in 1828, the Group has more than 66,000 employees in around 1,400 offices and laboratories located all across the globe. Bureau Veritas helps its clients to improve their performance by offering services and innovative solutions in order to ensure that their assets, products, infrastructure and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environmental protection and social responsibility. Bureau Veritas is listed on Euronext Paris and belongs to the Next 20 index.

Compartment A, ISIN code FR 0006174348, stock symbol: BVI.

Corporate website www.bureauveritas.com/marine-and-offshore

Marine client portal www.veristar.com  

Contacts:

Philippe Boisson

Bureau Veritas

+33 (0)1 55 24 71 98

philippe.boisson@bureauveritas.com

Size matters

IJmuiden-based Offshore Ship Designers is to design a new compact but powerful AHT offshore support vessel for Netherlands-based Neptune Marine Service BV.

The order follows a recent contract for the design of two Azistern24/56 tugs for Singapore-based Pacific Offshore Engineering and Trading Pte. The key to both designs is that although the vessels will have the capabilities of much larger tugs and offshore support vessels, their smaller size reduces both capital outlay and on-going operational costs.

Michiel Wijsmuller, managing director of OSD, says, “Size certainly matters, especially when it is related to costs. What wind farm operators need is compact but versatile vessels, and the offshore sector needs vessels that are less expensive to operate but equally capable. The answer in both cases is to find a way to squeeze more out of a smaller platform, and that is what these two new designs will do.”

The Neptune contract is for the basic and detailed design of a 44 m AHT offshore support vessel which will be used for anchor handling, ocean towage and wind farm construction support duties. The 70 tonne BP vessel is designed for worldwide operation, high reliability and low maintenance costs. There is accommodation for 22 persons. Two main propellers with nozzles and three transverse thrusters will give the vessel DP-1 station keeping ability. The detailed design will be ready by October and the vessel is intended to enter service in the second half of 2012.

The Azistern24/56 vessels to be designed for POET are the first in a series of fuel efficient designs developed by OSD Holland. Based on a load line length of less than 24 m, the design range can be upgraded to 70 tonnes BP. The POET vessels will have a LOA of 25.85 m, beam 10.8 m and be powered by twin Cummins QSK-60 main engines and Rolls Royce azimuthing thrusters delivering 56 tonnes BP and a speed of 11.5 knots. The vessels will have a very high degree of maneuverability and be suitable for working in tight spots. Construction of the vessels will start at the end of May 2011, and delivery will be early 2012. Both vessels will be outfitted with class 1 fire-fighting equipment.

• Offshore Ship Designers Group (OSD) is a global one-stop resource delivering naval architecture and marine engineering skills to the shipping and offshore energy industries. It draws on an experienced global workforce to provide high quality feasibility studies, conceptual and detailed designs for tugs and offshore support vessels of all types. OSD is based in IJmuiden, The Netherlands, and has offices in Montrose, York, Appledore, Shanghai and Singapore. www.offshoreshipdesigners.com

For a PDF graphic of the Neptune tug or the Azistern2400 e mail: john@merlinco.com


For more information:

Merijn Brusselers
Offshore Ship Designers
+31 (0)255 54 50 70
brusselers@offshoreshipdesigners.com