Broad shoulders and thoughtful design

Based on a design by Teknicraft, this 25m support boat has had an enormous amount of input from Mr Mainprize himself, so when he says that Buckie “have been nothing short of fantastic to work with” you get the impression that he really means it: for example the yard provided 3D models of all the different bridge layouts and were willing to change it around when a new requirement came into play.

Due to be put into the water around the first week in June, the MO1 has been carved out for a wide support role so it has the kind of broad shouldered design needed for carrying big, bulky cargo: a large deck area of 150m2 is backed up by capacity for 36,000 litres of fuel and 40 tonnes of load.

“We wanted to provide our clients with a good, stable and spacious working platform,” he explains, “one that is flexible enough to take on a lot of different roles, from oil & gas, diving and survey work to windfarm support.”

It’s interesting that he believes this last sector is about to follow roughly the same pattern as the oil & gas industry with diverging roles: so, he is clear about what the new vessel is, and equally what its not: “The windfarm market has been nearly saturated with very fast crew transfer boats, but we aren’t in that particular race. So, I think the market’s beginning to divide, there’s still a need to get technicians out to site, but there’s also a real need for flexible load capability.”

Mr Mainprize explains that part of the idea was to keep the propulsion design sturdy and straightforward as possible, so low speed manoeuvring is still straight from a “beefy” pair of Caterpillar C32 main engines providing 1,200kW which go through ZF Marine transmissions to five bladed fixed pitch 1,200mm propellers from Clements Marine. The very fine wave piercing bow has a hydrofoil dynamic, giving an efficient lift and reducing drag with speed calculations so far showing about 30 knots.

“While this combination may be losing a little on the bollard pull it still comes in around 18 tonnes, plus we are keeping a pretty good speed up and the vessel still gains something because the hull is really extremely efficient,” he says.

The aft deck can accommodate up to four, 20ft containers, eight 10ft containers, a dozen 6ft containers or a mix of these. Forward, the MO1 can accommodating a mixture of two, 10ft, three 6ft containers or 10 euro pallets: with these capacities he expects these vessels to be ideal for construction vessel supply, jack-up tow, crew transfer and various kinds of support, for survey vessels, platforms or windfarms.

The deck space also lends itself to plug-and-play kitted out shipping containers. Either Mainprize or the client can provide systems like a geosurvey suite or laboratory in a standard ‘box’: the space onboard is big enough for the vessel not to have to go home and change over between operations.

Dive operations are also supported by the huge deck area: “We can load two 20ft containers, one each for the dive and ROV spread and still have over 100m2 of deck space, 72m2 aft and 30m2 forward,” says Mr Mainprize. Further, the twin bow thruster, twin engine setup plus four point anchor system helps keep station.

The vessels have two point cranes mounted forward and mid-ship port side and also room for a large 1.5 tonne A-frame with a 4m reach which allows for the fitting of the largest class of survey and medium class construction ROV. Further, extensive cable tracking/depth of burial or survey spreads can be fitted.

“When conducting underwater maintenance and repair work we plan to use the port mid-ship crane for the dive cage, the A-frame with ROV for diver monitoring and assistance while the forward crane supplies the diver with any equipment or tools they require,” says Mr Mainprize.

With a 1.5m square moon pool, three lifting points and the extensive bridge, the MO1 is also very useful for survey operations. This includes an impressive array of capabilities which run from bathymetric to side-scan, seismic and magnetometer surveys, plus bottom and sub-bottom profiling and of course AUV/ROV work. However, it also includes debris identification and recovery, cable and pipeline work, trawl and route surveys, scour monitoring, intertidal, marine and wildlife surveys, plus all kinds of sampling.

Mr Mainprize says the whole process has drawn in real attention to detail: “There’s a number of apparently small things that make a difference; we shaved off 500mm from a table to give better access to a walkway.”

He goes on to add that he’s “thrown a lot of challenges” at the Buckie yard, for example those six different possible wheelhouse layouts: “The team at Buckie really exerted themselves to help us think it through, taking every piece of furniture and doing a mockup of all of them so it could be seen how each one of them would function within a different kind of support role and with different requirements.”

Following this scrutiny one of the ‘extra’ washrooms has likewise been sacrificed to become a medical layout and treatment room: the CCTV and broadband system means you can have face to face consultations with doctor ashore, to make sure the treatment’s appropriate.

This also has another benefit: the people onshore can check the actual sea state and instruments onboard. “If their mechanisms are showing a 1.5m significant wave height, but ours say 2.00m, they can look in and see what’s really happening,” says Mr Mainprize.

The final design for the bridge has seen it equipped with two helm seats, a five point computer and it has an extensive communications package which means the vessel can be used as a main offshore co-ordination centre or as a backup.

The deckhouse is fitted with 12 suspension seats in all, seven person dining and meeting table along with a large galley plus a medical treatment room. The two large 32” monitors have input from the control and plotting systems, plus relaxation items like games and satellite TV. Below decks there are two, twin berth cabins.

The vessel will be operated to ISO9001, ISO14001 and OHSAS18001 certification, along with being and fitted with MARAD planned maintenance systems and safety management to STCW95 standards. As you can expect from a vessel of this size it has added redundancy where necessary: the two point crane and A-frame, fully redundant bridge systems and twin generators have all been fitted to reduce down time. “We also offer to fit specific equipment such as salvage pumps, oil recovery and/or FiFi equipment; this both gives increased flexibility and allows our customers to adhere to client requirements, QHSE, international, regional or local regulations,” says Mr Mainprize.

However, it’s been important to keep an eye on the expenditure, says Mr Mainprize. “We kept the costs down so the charter rates stay down: after all, we could have gone for the whole nine yards, but this would have doubled the price and I think that a good day rate will be a big factor in the future. After all, a DP2 vessel that costs £100,000 per day will add a very large chunk to any bill – and when people find out that something less expensive can do the job, that will win.” He concludes, “We expect these vessels to hit the market running.”

By Stevie Knight