In December 2012 Russia’s Ministry of Transport placed an order with German shipbuilding company Nordic Yards for two multipurpose rescue and salvage vessels (MPRSV). »Murman« and »Beringov Proliv« belong to the best ships in their class.
After the successes in the offshore wind segment by constructing several converter platforms, Nordic Yards, a provider of large scale[ds_preview] maritime projects, managed to expand its offshore oil and gas business by building these highly specialized vessels and thus secured about 1,500 jobs at its three locations in Wismar, Warnemünde and Stralsund on the German Baltic Sea coast.
With increasing interest in offshore energy in Arctic waters, Russia is currently assembling a fleet of rescue and salvage vessels. »Murman« and »Beringov Proliv« were built under the federal special-purpose programme for the FSI Sea Rescue Service of Rosmorrechflot. The latest newbuildings designed by Marine Engineering Bureau follow the delivery of »Spasatel Petr Gruzinskiy« finalized by domestic shipyard Amur Shipbuilding in 2014.
Each vessel is 88m in length, at nearly 19m gauge. The ships will be used by Russia’s maritime rescue services for patrols and rescue operations in offshore oil and gas fields on the Northern Polar Sea Route. The »Beringov Proliv«, based in the harbour of Korsakow, will mainly operate in the Sakhalin region while the »Murman« will cover the North-East Passage around Murmansk. »With this Russian government order, we would like to confirm our good name in Russia and prove our commitment as a competent and reliable partner in the Arctic and the offshore oil and gas industry,« says Fred G. Wegener, Technical Director at Nordic Yards.
The vessels classed by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RMRS) have to adhere to an extensive list of operational requirements. Thanks to their high-tech equipment they can perform search and rescue operations as well as emergency towing even in extreme weather conditions, while their on-board hospital facilities enable the medical treatment of those rescued. They are also designed to extinguish fires and combat oil spills.
Either at port or open water the unusual design with ice-breaker stem and cruiser aft end enables the units to break through ice with a thickness of 1m. In addition, the vessels contain technological instruments to explore the seabed and damaged objects in water depths of up to 1,000m. Underwater engineering operations with divers to a subsea level of 120 m are feasible. Both have an extended helipad on the bow, an enlarged double-tier forecastle and are fitted with daughter craft and rescue boat systems by davit international. Two 32t lift knuckle-boom cranes and an 80t »A«-frame mounted crane are located aft. Berths are provided for 26 crew and 12 staff along with provision for 95 potential survivors.
Financing was provided by the Russian state, the total volume of both orders amounted to 150mill. €. Swiss-based ABB Group won the 20mill. € contract to supply the propulsion system including twin 3.5 MW fully-rotating thrusters with fixed-pitch propellers, main switchboards, drives, bow thrusters (two 1.4 MW) and four diesel generators with a capacity of 10.6 MW. Two AC motors provide a total propulsive power of 7 MW and a maximum speed of 15kn when fully loaded.
Multifunctionality and the extremely high level of equipment – especially when the amount of equipment installed in smallest space is considered – were most important. An exceptional bollard pull of 100t is another distinct feature. For vessels of this size a 30t bollard pull is considered »normal«. Due to the high icebreaker class each ship may travel in DP 2 mode. Another highlight is the powerful main winch on the A-frame, ready to lift up to 80t objects from the water surface. Also the diving equipment aboard is a rare design compared with respective vessels. During construction, the shipyard has been working closely with Russian suppliers, among others Vniir (automation), Furuno Russia (nautical), Transas (control software) or Sormec. Davit Internationale delivered To meet the highest environmental requirements an »Ecomotive« sewage treatment plant by Jets that uses moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) technology as well as the vacuum sanitary system were installed by Steinbach Ingenieurtechnik. »These ships are capable of fulfilling the highest requirements,« stated Vitaly Yusufov, the owner of Nordic Yards.
Krischan Förster
