ITC continues to diversify – by Jack Gaston

This has resulted in the company acquiring new tonnage and moving not only into offshore operation in the gas and oil industry but also into support services for wind farm construction.

The anchor handling tug supply vessels Bluster, Boulder and Blizzard have proved to be a highly successful trio of sister ships, working mainly in the oil industry. They have now been joined by the ITC Cyclone and ITC Chinook. The vessels were built in 2008 and 2009 respectively. ITC obtained full operational and commercial control in August 2009 and gave them traditional ITC ‘ocean wind’ names.

ITC Cyclone and ITC Chinook are vessels of 10,880bhp, with 136 and 133 tons bollard pull respectively, and meet today’s high standards in the offshore market. A particular strength is the dynamic positioning systems (DP-2) fitted to both vessels. The system offers excellent position keeping ability, working in conjunction with the vessel’s two controllable pitch propellers, two bow thrusters and two stern thrusters, all of 625kW.

Both vessels are equipped for fire fighting to FiFi -1 standard with 2,400 cu/m capacity. A waterfall type double drum Bratvaag towing/anchor handling winch can accommodate 2,000m of 76mm wire and has a maximum line pull of 300 tons and static brake load of 450 tons. Such a winch ensures that the vessels are suitable for deep water anchor handling in addition to long distance ocean towing. ITC Cyclone and ITC Chinook both have comfortable accommodation for 50 men including the crew.

The ITC offshore vessels have proven their versatility working in Far East, African, Brazilian, Mediterranean and North Sea waters for many blue chip clients, such as McDermott, Global Industries, Saipem, Heerema, SBM, Acergy, Maersk Oil & Gas, Gaz de France, Shell, Murphy Oil, Doris, Schenker, Vaalco and Noble Drilling.

The company’s anchor handling tugs Tempest and Typhoon have also proved their versatility, undertaking work as diverse as salvage, long distance towing and wind farm support. Typhoon has been active, with two other tugs since May 2009, in support of the SHL crane ship Stanislav Yudin at the Greater Gabbard UK offshore wind farm. The massive crane ship, with Typhoon in support, was also responsible for installing offshore sub-stations at the Thanet Wind Farm earlier this year. The new Shoalbuster ITC Meltami has also secured work on charter to Smit Marine Projects at the shallow water wind farm at Rhyl off the coast of Wales.

ITC have also sold the oceangoing tug Sable Cape, a tug that has been responsible for many long range towing operations since it joined the company in 1998. The tug has recently been sold to a subsidiary of Asian Marine of Kaohsiung, Taiwan and will be renamed the Salvage Ace.