The thunder may have been roaring on the North East coast at the end of July but that didn’t stop the UK’s premier boat builder Alnmaritec delivering the latest boat to be built at their Blyth, Northumberland base for client Rix Shipping.
The ‘Rix Tiger’ is the second of the new Wave Captain class of wind farm support vessels to be completed for Rix by Alnmaritec and she will join her sister ‘Rix Panther’ in serving the offshore wind industry.
The vessel design features the latest high efficiency hull form developed by the Alnmaritec design department. She is powered by twin Cummins QSK 19 800 bhp diesel engines, coupled to ZF 2000V gearboxes driving twin 5 blade propellers. She achieves a cruising speed of 24 knots and has demonstrated exceptional sea keeping characteristics during recent sea trials. In addition she boasts a resiliently mounted wheelhouse which minimises noise and vibration, a large cargo area forward, and she also has two single berth crew cabins below decks.
She represents the state of the art in current wind farm service vessel design with exceptional attention to detail, having benefited from Alnmaritec’s long experience in this sector as Managing Director Chris Millman explains, “We have been building the boats used for wind farm crew transfer since the industry began in the early 2000’s so we understand what clients are looking for from their boats. We are constantly reviewing and improving our offering as a result of close working relationships with our clients in the sector and we are delighted with our latest delivery, the Rix Tiger.”
James Doyle, managing director of Rix Shipping , said: “Rix has worked closely with Alnmaritec to create the Tiger and we are really pleased with the results.
“Between the two companies we have come up with a range of great innovations that have produced a top class vessel ready to work in the wind farm sector.
“Alnmaritec finished the boat on time and to specification and we are delighted to have taken delivery of what is our third wind farm work vessel.”
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Press release, September 30, 2013; Image: alnmaritec