Red7Marine fills its boots

The Red7Marine Group has been expanding in several directions, with new vessels in its various divisions, new contracts and new onshore facilities in different parts of the country.

A fresh injection of capital has enabled the acquisition of a second DP2 vessel for its offshore division; the jack up part of the business has also been buying newbuild barges from Holland; the company has been audited and certificated by IJUBOA, an association of operators set up to regulate and certify standards in that sector; new offices have been opened in Aberdeen and Whitehaven; workshop facilities have been extended at their Ipswich yard, while all the inland and coastal engineering and estimating departments have moved into a smart headquarters building at Colchester. At the start of May, all the group’s vessels were being deployed on jobs around the UK coast, including a further two DP2 vessels taken from the spot market to service ongoing offshore projects.

Red7Marine’s presence at Seawork International this year will feature a newly-designed stand and a concerted programme to publicise their separate divisions, and especially the jack-up business, looking to attract major clients who need quality service and are prepared to match the standards offered by R7M.

In the offshore division the main event has been the purchase in February 2014 of the multirole OSV Normand Tonjer from Solstad Offshore ASA, and since renamed Red7 Tonjer. This DP2 vessel of the UT 705 design, joins the Red7 Reel, which has been with the company for several years and has recently been deployed at the London Array.

A deal struck in November last year with Perwyn Limited, a private equity investor, secured the injection of new capital to enable Red7Marine to acquire such additional assets to service its clients in the offshore renewables, and oil & gas markets. The Tonjer is currently servicing RWE on the construction phase of the Gwynt y mor offshore windfarm, eight miles off the North Wales coastline in the Irish Sea.

Red7 Tonjer is a multipurpose ROV, survey and air diving support vessel, with a gross tonnage of 3349gt, and a 3191dwt. The loa is 80.8m x 18m breadth, with a summer draft of 4.97m. It is powered by 2 x MAK diesel type 8M 45 main engines producing 2 x 3000 BHP at 600 RPM, has two bow thrusters and two stern thrusters and is equipped with a helideck, ROV hangar and optional work and inspection class ROV systems.

There is a TTS Norlift Constant Tension Seabed Crane with a maximum lifting capacity of 50T / 20T / 10T. An Air Diving System is permanently deployed on the vessel to carry out IMCA compliant air diving work down to 50m. Red7 Tonjer has accommodation for 61 persons in total.

For the immediate future the vessel will continue with her current commitment with RWE until the construction phase is concluded later this year. Red7Marine Offshore Ltd will operate the vessel and has taken over the technical management, and additionally will directly engage via its personnel agency approximately 75 per cent of the existing marine crew. This acquisition represents the first of a number of similar deals planned which will continue to ensure the company maintains its position as a leading provider of DP2 vessel-based diving, IRM, cable solutions, SeaVex subsea excavation and burial services within the offshore renewable and O&G energy markets.

SeaVex subsea excavation

With the increasing requirement by clients, installation contractors and operators to utilise non-intrusive cable and pipeline burial systems, SeaVex has the added benefit of being able to handle a variety of alternative tasks, typically undertaken as separate contracts on a single worksite.

Red7Marine responded to this need by developing the new SeaVex range of non-intrusive subsea excavation equipment for Pipeline, Cable & Umbilical Trenching/Deburial, IRM and Decommissioning services. Through experience gained over many years in the offshore energy sectors, SeaVex incorporates all the technological advancements needed to make it the only controlled flow seabed excavation tool of its type capable of delivering in ever demanding environmental conditions and soil types.

SeaVex is based on a hybrid subsea excavation system which is extremely adaptable, compact and controllable. The equipment houses a large single cast impeller, complete with direct drive and torque restrictor, driven by a powerful compact hydraulic motor. Fitted with adjustable sized outlet nozzles at the base of the tool, it allows enhanced kPa cutting of a comprehensive range of seabed materials. Each system is fitted with either 2D or 3D sonar survey packages, which are used to provide pre and post works surveys, and for live monitoring of the operation.

SeaVex Excavation Solutions have recently completed cable post trenching scopes for DONG Energy, on Gunfleet Sands and Walney windfarms, where SeaVex executed controlled flow excavation to lower energised cable down to depth to meet original specification. Latterly SeaVex completed cable deburial & reburial operations for ABB on and in the DolWin Subsea Platform area. Due to the growth and demand for SeaVex Excavation Equipment, Red7Marine has accelerated its build expansion programme to strategically place SeaVex equipment worldwide, and is working with a number of partners to fulfil client’s requirements.

Jack Up division is buoyant

With all their assets mobilised in May this year, the Red7 Marine jack up fleet is deployed on a wide range of contracts. Haven Seajack 1 is on the Clyde conducting site investigation/ borehole work, before moving on to Dover. Haven Seajack 2 as at Whitchurch on the non-tidal Thames working on a private toll bridge.

Meanwhile, Haven Seajack 3 and Haven Seaway are working on a site investigation project on the Humber, for a future directional drilling campaign under the river for a gas pipeline.

Haven Supporter, the capable Damen tug purchased at Seawork in 2011, is also working on the Humber project and Haven Seajack 4 is at Barking Creek, working on refurbishing the quay wall for the EA’s Thames River Wall package. The main contractor is Birse, with Livett’s launches providing pilotage for cargo vessels berthing inside the creek.

Seariser 1 and 3 are working at Liverpool for Peel Ports on construction of their new container terminal, Liverpool 2. They have been utilised for the piling operations on the Seaforth Triangle outside the Gladstone Lock for BAM, main contractor.

Haven Seariser 2 is currently on an RNLI framework contract to build four new Tamar Class Lifeboat Stations in Wales.

The flat top barges Haven Seareach and Seabreeze are on the Thames for CMP, building a coffer dam for BT near London Bridge. Haven Seaforth is at Bradwell for decommissioning of the Magnox nuclear power station, concluding a wider jack up based diving campaign. Haven Seafield is at the new Forth river crossing, Haven Searider is at Seal Sands, Middlesborough and Haven Seavoyager is at Gt Yarmouth, working for TMS repairing the river wall.

The two newbuilds, Haven Seariser 2 and 3, purchased recently for €2.2m each, are 250-tonne Ravestein modular jack-ups (30 x 17m and 27 x 17m). The ‘Self Elevating Platform’ consists of the following main components: A work deck of 24.40m x 17.04m x 2.44, consisting of 15no Ravestein Container Pontoons, 4no Jack Houses on each corner, 4no Legs, of 3no pieces 12m each (total leg length approx. 36.00m), 200 kVa Generator set, and a 2no 55 kW Electric driven Hydraulic Power Pack. The Platform is built from units having the size of standard ISO Freight Containers and all components are mounted together to form one fully operational ‘Self Elevating Platform’.

These barges are equipped with 36m spud legs, allowing the barges to be used in deeper water, which are assembled in three sections, using specially designed (and built by R7M) man cages to lower workers onto the legs for access inside, where the flanges are bolted up as each 12m section is fitted.

Seariser 3 was towed around from Rotterdam in 2013 by one of the MTS tugs (a Red7Marine approved towage contractor) to southern Scotland where its first job was to be used as a platform for test firing Sea Spear anti-piracy missiles which can be seen online.

On the inland waterways there are several jobs running for EA and British Waterways, using small tugs and workboats including the Taska fleet, built by their JV company in Red7Marine’s Ipswich dock facility.

All this jack up work has motivated Red7 to become one of only seven companies to be certificated by the International Jack Up Barge Operators’ Association which regulates and set standards for that sector, so that only accredited members should be allowed to tender for work in this specialised field.

IJUBOA established its Code of Practice in 2011, providing a standard against which companies can be audited. It is based on the International Safety Management (ISM) code. After a successful audit, companies are presented with a Certificate of Conformity similar to the ISM Document of Compliance. A major change to practice for those operating small barges is that the code requires companies to appoint a Designated Person Ashore to bring all operators in line with those already complying with ISM.

Companies possessing either a Certificate of Conformity with the IJUBOA code, or a Document of Compliance with the ISM code in respect of their jack-up operations are entitled to use an enhanced numbered IJUBOA logo as evidence that they are an IJUBOA certificated company.

Audited by GL Noble Denton, the list of certificated members stands at seven contractors, with the membership number 007 already allocated to R7M. The company’s jack ups are classified by Germanischer Lloyds. IJUBOA’s next AGM will be held in Liverpool at the end of June.

Expansion onshore

Due to the high demand from Red7Marine Offshore’s client base in the Northern and Central North Sea areas, the company has expanded into larger offices in Westhill, Aberdeen, which is recognised as the Global Centre of Subsea Excellence. Operating now in larger premises in the heart of the oil and gas and renewable energy market, allows Red7Marine Offshore to continue to deliver first hand to the company’s valued Aberdeen client base, and expand on its already established range of services and offshore capabilities.

A new regional office has also been opened at Whitehaven in Cumbria to service the diving operations taking place in the North West. The company’s yard at Ipswich Docks has been extend through the acquisition of extra buildings for boat building, maintenance and storage activities. The yard on the lower Thames at Northfleet is now shared with CMP, who have taken over Red7Marine’s contracting arm on the river Thames.

RNLI collaboration

One of the group’s ongoing civil engineering contracts with BAM Nutall involves installation, inspection and maintenance of RNLI lifeboat station moorings in the Eastern Division, from the Humber down to the Isle of Wight. Red7Marine provides ongoing support for the routine inspection and servicing of Lifeboat Station moorings, acting as preferred supplier under a Framework Contract. Since 2010 R7M have been involved in project managing vessel suppliers, coordinating the delivery and return of RNLI mooring stores, preparing H&S documentation, supervising marine operations to inspect and service moorings through to delivering Mooring Inspection Reports.

On the west side of the UK, R7M has supplied jack up barges and labour for the construction of slipways and boathouses for the RNLI’s new generation of Tamar class lifeboats. Most of the latest Tamars, which are designed to be launched from slipways, have been allocated to lifeboat stations in Wales, and Red7 have provided the services of plant and equipment to Angle, Tenby, St Davids, Mumbles (a £9.5m boathouse and slipway at the end of the 113-year-old Mumbles Pier in Swansea Bay, which was formally opened this March), Porthdinllaen and Moelfre.

Farther west around the Welsh coast, R7M and BAM Nuttall are undertaking works on the boathouse and slipway at Porthdinllaen. Since last summer, the Haven Seariser 2 has acted as a platform from which the installation of the slipway could be completed. The barge has since been redeployed to Moelfre.

Yet another interest of Red7 Marine is the partnership with Challis and Sons, in the name of Taska Marine the tug and workboat manufacturer, which uses the Ipswich yard facility to build its range of road transportable vessels for use by the company and for sale on the open market. One of Taska’s latest vessels will be on show on the pontoon at Seawork.

Visit Red7Marine both on the pontoon and on stand number B129 at this year’s Seawork International.

By Graeme Ewens