RWE reveals amphibious maintenance vessel

RWE says the potential is huge for the vessel, which can transfer crew to turbines or other assets stranded by rising sandbanks and can therefore support worldwide applications for wind farms in very shallow waters.

The first vessel, to be named CRC Walrus, will be used to reach turbines at Scroby Sands, in eastern England, which have become stranded on the prehistoric sandbank on which they were built.

Because of natural changes in the marine environment and coastal erosion, the sandbank has risen and four turbines cannot be reached by service vessels.

Naval architects Chartwell Marine designed the vessel to specifications requested by RWAE and CRC, and it is now being built by Diverse Marine on the Isle of Wight.

“The fully seaworthy vessel, which can also drive on land, provides a unique access solution for some of the industry’s first-generation assets affected by very dynamic seabed conditions,” says RWE.

CRC Walrus is a 12-metre approved crew transfer vessel with a 1,000kg deck cargo capacity. It can carry 10 technicians and two crew.