South Boats Special Projects Ltd. announced the launch and commissioning of its 53rd offshore wind farm crew transfer vessel, ‘Iceni Defiant’. The vessel is a South Catamaran 17m designed to operate from the locks at Grimsby Fish Dock. This vessel is the third built for Iceni Marine Services Ltd. with a further three in build and on order.
The ‘Iceni Defiant’ has an LOA of 17.6m, Beam of 6.3m, Draught of 0.95m and a lightship displacement of 28 tonnes.
Powered by twin Scania DI16 43M 800mhp diesel engines coupled to Rolls Royce FF500 water jet units the vessel achieved a sprint speed of 27 knots and is capable of cruising at speeds in excess of 23 knots in departure condition. The vessel is the first in the UK to be fitted with Rolls Royce’s new ROCCS Remote Control System.
An ONAN 9kW 230V AC generator set supplies power to the vessels ring main and AC services.
This latest generation vessel has a totally reworked interior arrangement with the entrance door offset to stbd and a full width changing area, hanging area and turbine spares lockers aft. Forward there are six crew seats to port arranged as three rows of two and six crew seats arranged as two rows of three, all with tables forward facing to stbd. A twin screen entertainment system is fitted with TV/DVD with forward, aft and saloon looking cameras.
The bridge has a fully integrated Furuno electronic suite comprising twin radars, twin chart plotters, video sounder, fully recording CCTV, AIS, satellite compass, twin DSC radios, satellite phone, load hailer, GPS and auto pilot. The bridge has heated forward screens to eliminate misting.
All windows in the vessel are fully double glazed to eliminate condensation to provide the technicians with clear visibility out of the vessel. Free standing air intake and air extraction systems for the machinery spaces and high tech anti noise and vibration matting minimise noise and vibration to the passenger saloon areas. In addition the saloon and wheelhouse areas are fitted with a circulating water system with stainless steel radiators and a booster fan matrix system to maintain a very comfortable environment through the winter months.
South Boats continues to build 25 wind farm crew transfer vessels per annum and the new generation 16m, 17m, 19m, 24m and 28m designs are now populating the range with those not yet started coming on line over the next few months. All of the new generation vessels feature modular superstructures, integrated systems, options for secondary access systems and new bow fender system. With 5 years experience building 53 wind farm vessels for 15 operators and having worked on over 25 projects, there is no doubt that South Boats catamarans remain the vessel of industry choice.
[mappress]
Offshore WIND staff, February 20, 2012; Image: southboats