Rederi reports exceptional progress

Ostensjo Rederi was first formed by Chairman Johannes Ostensjo in 1974 and has from its inception specialised in clearly defined areas of the offshore support and towage sectors of the marine industry. Managing Director Johan Rokstad reported that In 2007 the company returned its best results since its formation, with a turnover of NOK 750m and a net result of NOK 368m.

The towage division of the company currently operates 13 tugs and 6 mooring launches at Karsto, Sture and Nyhamna in Norway, at Fawley near Southampton in the UK and at Whitegate in Ireland. All are important oil terminals where efficient towage and marine services are paramount. Solent Towage, a wholly owned UK subsidiary is responsible for the management of towage, escort and marine services at the Esso Refinery at Fawley in Southampton Water and operation of the tugs based there. The Irish Whitegate terminal is served by a single tug stationed in Cobh under the management of subsidiary Lee Towage.

Solent Towage recently received a major boost with the news that after a lengthy competitive tendering exercise the company has been awarded a further15 year contract by Exxon, Esso’s parent company, to provide services at the Fawley terminal. The current tug fleet includes three of the most sophisticated Voith Schnieder escort and tanker handling tugs in Europe. Named Apex, Phenix and Tenax, all three were delivered within the last two years and have a static bollard pull of 68 tons. In the escort role the vessels can generate braking forces of 150 tons at 10 knots and steering forces of 140 tons at the same speed. The tugs are equipped for fire fighting to FiFi1 standards and pollution control operations.

The entire fleet, including the ASD terminal tug Thrax and tug/workboats Asterix and Ibex, are registered under the British flag. With all three Voith tractors on station, the Solent Towage fleet has the capacity to undertake a variety of coastal, short sea and other towage work on the spot market. The company is in the process of expanding its facilities in Southampton Water to support its recently expanded fleet.

Two further tugs are under construction. Vivax, a powerful new stern drive tug, is nearing completion at the Turkish yard of Sanmar Denizcilik for delivery in October. The 80 tons bollard pull vessel has been built to a Robert Allan ‘improved’ RAmpart 3200 design and will become the permanent escort and tanker handling tug at Nyhamna. A further Voith tractor tug, has been ordered from Astilleros Gondan. It will be similar to the Tenax class but will be modified and equipped to make it suitable for offshore operation, with an open stern, line handling gear and tugger winches. The tractor will be delivered in the spring/summer of 2009.

Ostensjo Rederi has been at the forefront of Platform Supply Vessel (PSV) design and operation since that type of vessel first came into service. From 1978 to the present day the company’s PSVs have been employed by Shell UK and other oil majors to service their installations in the North Sea. The PSVs have also operated in support of major subsea pipelaying projects in the North Sea, Mediterranean and in Australia/East Timor Sea.

Edda Freya was the first company vessel to carry out ROV/survey operations and since then Ostensjo has taken delivery of the specially equipped Edda Fjord in 2002, Edda Fonn in 2003, Edda Fauna and Edda Flora in 2008. The company is now involved in many areas within subsea support including ROV/survey, cable lay, trenching, heavy lift, removal operations and module handling. With delivery of Edda Fauna and Edda Flora, Ostensjo extended their operation to include the inspection, maintenance and repair of subsea installations.

With the recent conversion of Edda Fjord into a flotel, Ostensjo gained experience within accommodation services and is now expanding in this field of operation with a newbuilding project. With the massive new accommodation vessel, Edda Accommodation, the Ostensjo group is offering the offshore industry a unique accommodation and service vessel for a total of 600 people. The vessel may also be used as living accommodation for personnel working onshore and when moored alongside a jetty and the total accommodation capacity may be increased to 1,000 beds.

In order to deal with this growing business Ostensjo Rederi is about to extend its office facilities at Smedasundet on the waterfront at Haugesund. In cooperation with R.G.Haglund, the company will start work in the autumn to build new offices adjacent to the existing Sjofartsbygget building that will be retained. The work will be extensive and involve preserving the traditional appearance of the historic waterfront but will increase the available office space from 500 to 1,800 sq/m and house up to 60 staff.