Bureau Veritas guidance for WSVs

BV NI 589 Windfarm Service Ships is a service document which covers ships specifically designed to operate in offshore windfarms. This includes transfer of personnel from shore to offshore windfarms and perform lifting operations needed for wind turbine servicing.

Maxime Pachot, offshore service vessel manager, Bureau Veritas, said: “Although some of the existing Offshore Service Vessel fleet can perform the tasks necessary for developing and maintaining offshore wind farms, we see an increasing need for specialist craft. These will include specialised vessels for servicing offshore wind farms. These will have particular characteristics and to be efficient they will have to be new designs. That means they need new class rules and guidance for designers and yards.”

The guidance is aimed at maximising the efficiency of new offshore windfarm service vessels. It will help designers and yards to use Bureau Veritas’ rules for steel ships and rules for High Speed Craft, combined with the rules for vessels under 500 gt. It is also hoped that the document will help develop new designs which will be light, fast, safe and cost-effective.