Extreme crew transfer gangway wins industry award

Ampelmann won the The OTC Spotlight on New Technology award for its enclosed and insulated crew transfer system which is operational in sea states up to 3.5 metres wave height and in extreme icing and temperatures as low as -28C (-18F).

“Various extreme weather technologies were employed in the design of the Icemann, making it the most high-performance gangway system that has ever been built from an operations and conditions point of view,” said Jan van der Tempel, Ampelmann’s chief executive officer.

Transfer milestone

The accolade comes as the Netherlands-based company surpassed more than four million people transfers worldwide since it was founded in 2007.

Ampelmann created the Icemann in response to growing demand for effective and safe personnel transfer equipment in frontier regions such as sub-Arctic Norway and Canada.

The system can rotate to 360 degrees and is controlled from the vessel with flexibility in platform landing locations and directions.

Last year the Icemann was installed on the Stepan Makarov, a new ice-class platform standby vessel built for the Sakhalin-2 project under a 20-year charter between Sakhalin Energy and vessel operator, Sovcomflot.

It is apparently the first standby vessel in the world to use such a gangway for operations in severe ice states and temperatures. The system has already reached a milestone of more than 22,500 transfers since its arrival in August.

By Anne-Marie Causer