Pon Power wins milestone contract

Designed to tow large structures over long distances, the ALP Future Class ships are described as “next-generation of AHTS”. The vessels, developed by Ulstein Design and Solutions, are to the SX157 design, with 300t bollard pull, capable of operating at full loads for 45 days without refuelling. Under the contract, Pon Power Scandinavia will provide four main engines and gensets for all four vessels.

The long-stroke 320mm-bore main engines are capable of generating 4,500kWb. Pon Power says the 9M32C MaK engines are reliable and fuel efficient, and because they operate at a 600rpm, are “ideally suited for vessels requiring a lot of power over a long period of time”. The Cat gensets are mounted on Pon Power’s GenFlex solution, which is said to help reduce vibration and minimise maintenance. Niigata Shipbuilding and Repair yard is to build the vessels, the first being scheduled for delivery at the end of 2015.

Trond Skaufel, managing director, Pon Power Scandinavia, said: “The contract gives us an opportunity to not only demonstrate the quality of our engines, but show how our team can add value during installation and commissioning.”

“To generate the necessary power for these vessels, ALP Maritime Services and Ulstein Design & Solutions selected 18,000 kw MaK 9M32C engines,” added Øystein Solberg, account manager, Pon Power Scandinavia. “Pon Power will also supply three CAT C32 auxiliary gensets and one emergency CAT C9 genset per vessel to provide additional power and redundancy.”

The vessels have been designed to manage a growing number of ultra-large floating production units now on order. Pon Power says the size of these new units has created a demand for increasingly large and powerful vessels to perform mooring leg survey, maintenance, repositioning, refurbishments and decommissioning services in increasingly remote locations.