In-house Wind Farm Support for Holyhead
An artist’s impression of the first new vessel to be built for Turbine Transfers by sister company Holyhead Marine.
The UK’s Holyhead Boatyard Group is bringing the production of offshore wind farm support vessels in-house, with a new 19m design from BMT Group subsidiary BMT Nigel Gee Ltd.
The vessels will be operated by Turbine Transfers Ltd, a subsidiary of Holyhead Towing, and built by sister company Holyhead Marine. Turbine Transfers Ltd is a leading provider of support vessels to the offshore wind farm industry. The Holyhead, Wales based group has chosen BMT Nigel Gee Ltd as the designers of its new series of multi-purpose Wind Farm Support Vessels.
BMT will develop the new design utilising its expertise as a marine design consultancy. Of particular relevance is its considerable design experience in developing high speed catamarans for rough water applications. The company will also undertake the production design development in order to ensure the adoption of the most efficient and cost effective production methodology.
The first of the series will be a 19m vessel that will offer a step change in flexibility to the operator for a vessel of its size, with aft deck load capacity of six tons and a fore deck capacity of three tons. Additional operational flexibility is provided with the incorporation of integral crane foundations on both the fore and aft deck to allow the vessel to be quickly reconfigured for various different roles in support of wind farm construction and support.
In order to optimise the layout of the working deck areas and passenger space, the design is being undertaken in partnership with Turbine Transfers. This partnership will bring together BMT Nigel Gee’s design capability with Turbine Transfer’s years of operational expertise to ensure the best possible layout for the various potential tasks. A key feature of the design is the provision of an exceptionally quiet and comfortable area for the technicians and operators of the vessel.
The vessel will use MTU engines and UltraJet waterjets to achieve a loaded speed in excess of 26 knots. Construction of the vessel will start shortly at Holyhead Marine, for completion in 2011.
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