BMT Nigel Gee expands to meet increased workload
Seawork 2013 exhibitor BMT Nigel Gee, a subsidiary of BMT Group, is expanding its offices in Southampton, UK, to meet a large increase in design work.
The naval architect specialist delivers design and engineering services to specialised vessels in the commercial, yacht, defence and renewable energy markets – the latter it attributes towards its need for expansion.
John Bonafoux, managing director, BMT Nigel Gee, said: “2012 saw our company capitalise on investments made in the renewable energy market. Developing designs for wind farm support vessels as early as 2009, there are now over 18 wind farm support vessels under construction at six different shipyards in Europe and Asia.”
Of particular note is the recent launch of BMT’s XSS design from the Sepers facility in Holland. This 24m vessel features a hull-form based on SWATH technology and offers improved sea-keeping capabilities over conventional wind farm support vessels, making it particularly suitable for longer transits to those wind farms further from shore.
Trials have also been successfully completed on three more conventional 20m vessels: one in Europe and two in Asia. In the same vein, the company’s patented Turbine Access System, a motion compensated access gangway designed to increase safety for personnel transferring from support vessels on to turbines, developed in partnership with Houlder, successfully completed trials in October at the Rhyl Flats wind farm off the coast of Wales. The Turbine Access System won the Seawork Spirit of Innovation Award in 2011.
This year will see BMT Nigel Gee investing further in R&D activity including new hull-forms aimed at improving efficiencies in the oil and gas market – the company has recently received an order for a number of high speed crew transfer vessels for the sector.
Mr Bonafoux concluded: “Our order book moving forward into 2013 remains strong – a true testament to the quality of design, engineering and attention to detail our team deliver.”
