A new oil spill response workboat has been produced by Portuguese company – SWB, Seismic Workboats, Lda which is headquartered in Peniche.
The vessel is the first that this company, normally associated with survey boats, has built for oil spill response and it was designed and developed by engineering teams from Portugal, England, USA and Norway and built at Peniche Shipyard.
In October, the National Maritime Authority in Portimão, Algarve (AMN), carried out an important validation test, consisting of an exercise for oil spill response in the marine environment. This exercise allowed testing and validation of the workboat in multiple scenarios.
"It is a special workboat, equipped with a controllable pitch propeller (CPP) which allows us to achieve high-speed and also to deliver the required bollard pull to tow oil containment booms," said Filipe Duarte, from SWB.
The company says the workboat was built to achieve much lower noise and vibration levels. Duarte added, "I’d like to highlight the high stability that allows us to perform operations safely.
Founded in 2014, SWB focuses on developing Seismic Survey workboats using the best available technologies and materials. Strategic partnerships with composites companies and Seismic equipment manufacturers have allowed the SWB Engineering Team to design, learn and develop a new concept.
The company says that this knowledge has now been applied to the Oil Spill and Hazmat response markets.
By Jake Frith
