‘MCS SWATH 2’
Alicat Workboats recently announced that contracts have been signed with Renewable Energy Support Ltd. (RES) for the construction of ‘MCS SWATH 2’, a 26m Typhoon SWATH (Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull) Crew Transfer Vessel for the offshore wind industry.
It is understood RES has signed a contract with Maritime Craft Services (Clyde) Ltd to manage and market MCS SWATH 2. The vessel is being designed by Ad-Hoc Marine Designs and is a development of the company’s existing vessel MCS SWATH 1 delivered from the Far East in 2016. Alicat Workboats won the order through a competitive tender process and, despite not being the cheapest, offered the most compliant technical and commercial proposal. Peter Curtis of DS Leasing has provided the financial solution that RES needed to facilitate the order. The vessel will start construction in October 2017 and be delivered in October 2018.
The vessel is to be powered by quad Scania DI16-076M 600kw main engines coupled to Hundested marine gears driving two shafts to controllable pitch propellers that will drive it to speeds in excess of 25 knots in 2,5m Hs. It will also have active ballast management and an active ride/motion control system to ensure comfortable sea keeping and fuel efficiency. While ‘loitering in the field’ two of the engines can be disengaged to save fuel and there is a lot of redundancy with the quad engine set up.
Menno Kuyt, MD of Maritime Craft Services (Clyde) Ltd.: “MCS SWATH 1 has proven to be able to transfer in Hs 2,25m. In these difficult conditions and pushing against the tower with only 60% of power there was 100% NO slipping. MCS SWATH 1 is designed to be able to transfer in HS 2.5m, while maintaining a cruising speed of 22kts. There is no slamming and a very comfortable ride for the technicians and crew.”
Ben Colman of Alicat Workboats Ltd.: “In conjunction with RES, we are very pleased to bring the Typhoon SWATH construction to the UK following extensive development of the hull form in independent model testing. We have worked with John Kecsmar at Ad-Hoc for many years and we are delighted that Dirk and RES have selected us for the construction of delivery of this technically advanced vessel. This project proves that SWATH vessels can be built in the UK and yards such as ours can offer the technical and commercial solutions required by vessel operators and financial package providers.”
By Jake Frith
