The workboat community stays buoyant as a mixture of regulations and specialised vessels keep the orders flowing, writes Samantha Fisk
The offshore market was reported to had taken a downturn as the industry recovered from the financial impact of 2009[ds_preview], but for the workboat community the market appears to be holding strong with more specialised vessels being required.
Both operators and shipyards alike, when it comes to these types of vessels, seem to be looking forward and as Gail Clark from Global Marine reports: »The market keeps growing with new projects popping up.«
CWind, part of the Global Marine Group, has recently announced that it has launched its largest crew transfer vessel (CTV) »CWind Phantom« that can carry up to twelve passengers and berths for eight people. The 27.4m catamaran has a 20t cargo capacity and can hold 20,000 l of fuel, allowing it to reach further distances offshore.
»CWind Phantom« has an aluminium hull and has an 8m bean with 1.4m draft; along with this the vessel can carry containers in a combination of configurations, while an onboard crane can lift 1.1t at 5m outreach. The vessel is powered by two MAN D2862 and is capable of reaching a maximum speed of 27kn.
CWind also has three other CTVs in the series. »The advantages of having a larger vessel like CWind Phantom is that you can take more crew out to the projects and also work at a more significant wave height,« Clark explains.
UK-based Cheetah Marine has also seen a shift in the market place for more specialised vessels from its customers. It’s latest concept being a containerised catamaran. The idea behind the »cat in a box« concept spokesperson Lucy Strevens explains: »We had a lot of questions about getting boats to certain hard to reach locations.«
The company says that the catamaran can be rapidly assembled and disassembled enabling mobilisation from container to catamaran in a day. The vessel is ideal for rapid response operations including search and rescue, hydrographic survey, patrol & enforcement, oil spill response as well as film and surveillance work.
The programme formed part of an 18 month R&D collaborative project with funding from Innovate UK, which allowed Cheetah Marine to develop the transportable catamaran concept. Strevens also highlights that, »if we get more orders for hydrographic use we can explore further development for this field.« Currently, the first of these vessels is due to be used for Dolphin spotting and charter in Portugal.
Cheetah Marine has also delivered its latest hydrographic catamaran to Sinohydro. »The Sinohydro catamaran for the Padma Bridge is a significant project, partly because of the scale of the project as well as following on in the stream of turnkey hydrographic survey catamarans which we are now supplying around the world,« Strevens says.
The first of this type was delivered to Saudi Port Authority in 2007. Significant features of this design mean that it can be single-man towed and launched and recovered from all working areas. Cheetah Marine has also worked with Raytheon and Kongsberg to improve the vessels surveying ability, allowing the latest of these catamarans to run survey’s at 12kn.
IMO and EPA compliant engines
Propulsion manufacturers are also seeing a shift in the market, also being pushed by current EPA and IMO regulations and looking to other industries to be able to meet with requirements.
MAN Engines has just unveiled its latest offering to the workboat market with its D2676. The engine is a development from its truck business that it has modified for the maritime market.
Toby Goss, customer support engineer, MAN Engines & Components explains: »It’s the biggest that we do at 650 hp. With this model we are replacing the older marine model version that we do.«
The six-cylinder common rail D2676 has been de-rated to meet with maritime requirements and is for medium to heavy-duty use. The development of the engine also sees a new water-cooling house around the turbo charger, instead of being directly cooled. Along with this are other features such as a titanium plate cooler and modified sump.
The D2676 will meet with the EPA III and IMO Tier II regulations with Goss noting that the engine has good fuel consumption. »The fuel consumption is good on this engine, but to be able to meet with the regulations you need to burn more fuel,« he also adds. For the engine with tier 4 of the EPA standards either a scrubber or an additive will need to be used the company advised.
Volvo Penta has launched its EPA III compliant solution to the market that utilises scrubber technology. The solution is Volvo Penta’s latest engine and after treatment concept.
Thomas Lantz, product planning manager, Volvo Penta, says that with its solution: »We are seeing a 70% reduction in NOx. The solution uses a scrubber, which we’ve also added urea to and reduced the timing of the engine.«
The use of scrubbers to meet with the challenges of the environmental regulations coming into effect has had a mixed feedback, mainly due to the space that it will take up onboard a vessel. However, Lantz puts forward that the Volvo Penta solution is flexible and can be designed around and utilise space that is not being used. »It is a fully integrated system with no real maintenance,« he adds.
Caterpillar are also stepping up to meet with the EPA and IMO requirements and going one step further with the development of their C280 engine, which has been developed to meet requirements of US EPA Tier IV and IMO Tier III.
The C280 engines are available in eight, twelve and 16-cylinder models covering a power range from 2,300–5,060 kW as main engines, either as conventional or diesel electric and also auxiliary generator sets. Further in the Caterpillar portfolio the company has also redeveloped its C7.1 that originally was aimed at pleasure market.
Gordon Dalrymple, Cat Marine new equipment sales manager, UK & Ireland explains that, »You would usually see this type of engine being used as a gen set or for pleasure craft, now we have modified it for the commercial market.«
The engine has been de-rated to meet with the more commercial workboat market and will meet with the demands of EPA Tier III and IMO Tier II. Dalrymple adds that, »It’s new for us to have this type of engine down at that power.«
The workboat market is busy and is opening up to new business that looks to be coming in the way of new designs to meet with the latest projects and customer demands that are evolving.
Samantha Fisk
