American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has granted Approval in Principle (AIP) to a coordinated design for a wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) in conjunction with the BargeRack feeder barge system by Friede and Goldman (F&G).
The design is said to enable the Jones Act-compliant barge in a lifting system that F&G says reduces motion and increases the window of operational time.
”To achieve the scale of U.S. offshore wind market by 2030, the industry will be reliant on the delivery of the variety of vessels that will be needed to install and maintain the turbines, while navigating various port constraints,” said Greg Lennon , ABS Vice President, Global Offshore Wind.
”ABS has been at the forefront of supporting this process, facilitating a succession of vessel developments that will prove critical to the future of this industry. This design from F&G is the latest where we are proud to be able to assist with our extensive knowledge of U.S. regulations and our deep involvement with the entire offshore wind supply chain here in the U.S.”
The design was reviewed in accordance with the ABS 2017 Guidance Notes on Review and Approval of Novel Concepts.
”F&G has developed a superior feeder vessel solution,” said Robert Clague , Vice President of Engineering at F&G.
”Typical feeder solutions are inherently risky due to feeder vessel motions with the impact on equipment transfer. We’ve solved this problem by completely eliminating the feeder vessel motion, as well as reducing the feeder vessel cost by an order of magnitude compared to other feeder vessels.”
The Jones Act is a century-old federal law requiring goods shipped between US ports to be transported on ships that are built in the US, mostly owned by US entities, and operated by US citizens or permanent residents.
Development of the BargeRack WTIV is the latest vessel designed specifically for US offshore wind operations to be supported by ABS.
A subsea rock installation vessel is to be built to ABS Class and Charybdis, the first Jones Act-compliant WTIV, is also now under construction to ABS Class .
The first US-flagged Jones Act offshore wind farm service operation vessel (SOV) ever ordered will be built to ABS Class.
These vessels will join the first ABS-classed crew transfer vessel (CTV) in the US, Windserve Odyssey . ABS has also issued AIPs for a series of wind support vessels from European designers.
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