Danish report into offshore wind sector standardisation

Ian Baylis, managing director of UK Seacat Services, has welcomed the report as it could finally mean that all the flagship countries working in the North Sea are all on the same page.

“The DMA has got it right to be fair to them,” Mr Baylis told Maritime Journal. “It is time for them to standardise, everybody needs to be singing from the same hymn sheet.”

The report suggests that there is need for more standardisation in regulation across the regions to create a more competitive offshore wind sector industry.

It mapped the safety regulations and standards that apply when approving ships as well as crew qualifications in the four offshore wind sectors; Denmark, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands.

More standardisation could have a major impact on the way that offshore wind vessel services operate.

“The blunt thing is, more standardisation will just cost us more money. We know all our vessels can operate under current individual flag state rules. But that could all change,” added Mr Baylis.

With Germany putting its industrial personnel code into practice and the UK producing their own offshore service code. Denmark felt it was time to follow suit.

“There is a lot of cross pollination in Danish waters from other flagship countries and the country will have felt the need to control this,” explained Mr Baylis.

“We believe it should aim for the highest standardisation. Set the bar high, commercially Seacat has spent the money to build the boats and meet all flagship state requirements,” he continued.

Mr Baylis believes that the standardisation of vessel regulations will help the ongoing progress of the offshore wind sector.

He concluded: “It’s all about risk mitigation but if you look at this in relation to the oil and gas industry, through standardisation they have ended up with high class quality tonnage and highly qualified people running its vessels.”

“The offshore wind industry is catching up in dog years. We need to all be on the same page when it comes to the maritime operations in the sector.”

Danish Maritime Authority has said it will now engage in dialogue with the industry in order to consider possible measures that could improve the framework conditions of the offshore wind sector in the North Sea.

By Alice Mason