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From now on AIS is compulsory in the North Sea Port

November 1, 2019

From November 1, 2019, inland vessels must use the Automatic Identification System (AIS) in Terneuzen.

From now on AIS is compulsory in the entire port area. This makes it easier for North Sea Port to follow all vessel movements from Flushing to Ghent, which will promote safety in the port area.

Until recently, AIS was only compulsory for inland vessels in Flushing and in Ghent, but not in Terneuzen. Now that AIS is also required for Terneuzen, movements of inland vessels can be traced throughout the 60-kilometer cross-border port area. This is important for vessels in transit as well as for ships moored at quays – a total of around 50,000 inland vessels per year.

As a merged port, North Sea Port can make operations of inland vessels, shipping companies and other companies more straightforward and consistent throughout the port area. This uniform method facilitates traffic management and increases safety. AIS tracking system is also important for interaction between inland vessels.

Heerema’s crane vessels to switch to wind energy

November 1, 2019

Heerema Marine Contractors will provide its crane vessels with clean energy. By switching off the diesel generators, total emissions will be reduced by the equivalent of the annual emissions of approximately 5,000 diesel cars. Eneco will supply power from the wind farm on Landtong Rozenburg. Heerema's crane vessels are often moored in the Calandkanaal in Rotterdam. The use of clean energy reduces noise and air pollution, significantly reduces CO2 emissions and improves the quality of life in Rozenburg and Maassluis.

To supply the power, an "e-house" of 16 by 9 meters will be built on Landtong Rozenburg together with several transformers. Eneco and the Port of Rotterdam Authority have set themselves the goal of providing vessels, in addition to those of Heerema, with shore power at other locations in the vicinity. To get the project off the ground, the Municipality of Rotterdam has reserved a subsidy of €2 million in its 2020 budget, provided that the e-house on Landtong Rozenburg is properly integrated into its surroundings in consultation with local residents.

It is not very common internationally that these types of large vessels are connected to shore power. What makes the project truly unique is the direct supply of wind turbine power to these nearby seagoing vessels. Eneco (80%) and the Port of Rotterdam Authority (20%) are now establishing the "Rotterdam Shore Power B.V." with Heerema as their first customer. In addition to supplying Heerema, this new power company wants to supply shore-based power to several companies in the area. Discussions on this are ongoing. Other nearby terminals can be supplied with shore power from the e-house on Landtong Rozenburg.

Heerema's Sleipnir and Thialf are the largest crane vessels in the world. These crane vessels are regularly moored in the Calandkanaal in Rotterdam for maintenance or to prepare for projects at sea. Vessels need energy to run on-board facilities. These include pumps, cranes, lighting, air conditioning and other equipment. Vessels usually deploy their diesel generators to generate the necessary power. They make noise and emit particulate matter, nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and CO2, among other things. The diesel generators of Heerema's vessels produce approximately the same amount of these emissions each year as do 5,000 diesel cars. By switching off the generators, emissions of CO2 are reduced by approximately 15,000 metric tons each year.

With this innovative project, Heerema, Eneco, the Port of Rotterdam Authority, and the Municipality of Rotterdam want to show that it is possible to supply shore-based power to large seagoing vessels. Because of this demonstration aspect, the municipality has reserved a €2 million subsidy for the project in its 2020 budget. This is on condition that the e-house on Landtong Rozenburg, in consultation with local residents, will be well integrated into its surroundings. If the Rotterdam Shore Power B.V. can connect several companies and its income increases as expected, the municipal subsidy will be returned.

The project will apply for the permits in late 2019 and construction is to start in the spring of 2020. Most important is building the e-house of approx. 16 x 9 x 5.5 meters, including several transformers. This e-house will be located near Heerema's berth on the north side of the Noordzeeweg on Landtong Rozenburg. The integration of this e-house into its surroundings is very important and local residents will be invited to express their views on the plans at several meetings in the near future. Heerema's vessels also need to be converted to connect to shore power. If everything goes according to plan, Heerema's vessels will be plugged in sometime next year.

Alfa Lift – the smart design for offshore wind installations

November 1, 2019

The Norway-based shipowner OHT recently celebrated the keel laying of their Alfa Lift heavy installation vessel, a custom-designed offshore wind foundation installation vessel for the early development stage of new offshore wind farms. Ulstein has ship solutions to serve all phases in the life of an offshore wind farm.

Coming from the offshore oil and gas industry, designing and building vessels for some of the world’s toughest areas and demanding operations, Ulstein has become a leading player in the growing offshore wind industry. The knowledge of how to integrate technical, operational and commercial aspects in a vessel design is paramount when contributing to the LCOE (Levelised Cost Of Energy) reduction in future offshore wind projects. New offshore wind farms are being developed further from shore, in rougher seas and deeper waters. This increases the need for higher carrying capacities, comfortable accommodation, vessel flexibility and operational availability and safety.

The current development in offshore wind industry towards larger turbines and deeper waters is stressing the capacities and capabilities of the existing fleet. From vessels used in survey and seabed preparations, to vessels dedicated to installation, service and operation and cable laying, we see a general trend towards larger and therefore often more expensive vessels. Ulstein’s customised Alfa Lift design for Offshore Heavy Transport (OHT) is a break-through of this trend, by applying smarter design principles. Relying on the Archimedes’ principle, the Alfa Lift design can achieve a higher operational performance compared to existing vessels without compromising the economic performance of the operations.

The Alfa Lift vessel will be performing transportation and installation of foundations for offshore wind farms. The flexibility inherent in its design opens up the possibility to carry out heavy transportation, installation and decommissioning activities in other markets. What makes this dynamically-positioned, 48,000 DWT vessel truly exceptional is the ability to perform heavy lift crane operations with the main deck submerged. Targeting the offshore renewables market, the vessel naturally has been developed to reduce environmental emissions as much as practicably possible. In addition to the installation of exhaust gas scrubbers, the engines are Tier III compliant, and a battery package will contribute to the reduction of the overall fuel consumption and resulting emissions.

The vessel’s capabilities match the future requirements of the offshore wind industry, allowing her to transport and install up to 10 x 1,500t ultra-large jacket foundations or 11 x 2,000t XXL monopiles plus transition pieces for the largest anticipated Wind Turbine Generators. The vessel is currently under construction at the CMHI yard, China, and is planned for delivery in 2021. OHT has options for up to three additional units of the same design at the yard.

Other vessels that Ulstein has recently developed for the offshore renewable or walk-to-work markets, include the heavy lift vessel Stella Synergy for Jumbo, Kasteelborg for Wagenborg, and the Van Oord subsea rock installation vessel Bravenes. In addition comes several SOVs contracted by, or currently operating for, Bernhard Schulte Offshore, Acta Marine and Seaway 7. Ulstein is also currently building the cable laying vessel Nexans Aurora.

Babcock completes work on HMS Pembroke at Rosyth site

November 1, 2019

Babcock International has successfully completed the refit of UK minehunter vessel, HMS Pembroke, at its Rosyth facility in Fife.

Approximately 50 Babcock employees, alongside specialist subcontractors, undertook a nine-month refit on the Royal Navy Sandown class minehunter.

The project, which got underway at the beginning of this year, included Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) work on the freshwater tanks, an overhaul of the propulsion systems, maintaining generators and work on the ship’s sonar and communications system.

Prior to this, HMS Penzance – another of the Royal Navy’s Sandown-class minehunters – underwent a 10-month docking period at Rosyth, which concluded in March 2019.

After passing the Ready for Sea inspection on schedule in October, HMS Pembroke completed sea acceptance trials off the Scottish and Norwegian coasts a day ahead of schedule, before returning to her home port of HMNB Clyde.

Sean Donaldson, Managing Director of Babcock’s Rosyth site, said:

“We were delighted to complete the refit of HMS Pembroke on time and look forward to carrying out similar packages of work on the other minehunter vessels.”

Nick Fernandes, Team Leader for the DE&S Mine Counter Measures Team, added:

“This is a great achievement for the Mine Counter Measures Team, Babcock and HMS Pembroke’s crew, who worked together to deliver a valuable asset to the Royal Navy within the planned timelines. The good use of project management skills and collaborative working between all parties demonstrates the value of the Complex Warship Support Enterprise and its ability to implement continuous improvement.”

Marlink announces its new platform for data sharing

November 1, 2019

XChange Cloud Premium, offering even more capacity and optimised management of data sharing, is coming soon.

XChange Cloud helps to streamline and enhance business, logistical and vessel operations by providing a reliable, easy to manage platform to share important files of any size or type throughout a fleet.

The solution presents unique capabilities for sending or collecting large numbers of files and folders to single or multiple vessels simultaneously. Furthermore, XChange Cloud reduces administrative effort through its automatic background synchronisation feature, which is available as standard and can be configured in line with your needs.

XChange Cloud, as an embedded core feature of XChange, is already equipped on hundreds of vessels. It manages transmissions of thousands of files and huge data volumes far beyond the 100GB mark every single month.

Soon to be fully available, alongside the launch of XChange 5.1, it is an ideal solution for shipping companies with a large fleet and a high demand for data sharing. The enhanced features of XChange Cloud Premium include huge storage capacity, customised fleet management and off-peak data transfer.

The latest addition to XChange services and part of ITLINK portfolio of IT solutions, XChange Cloud Premium offers a whole range of new and enhanced features:

High capacity

Huge storage capacities on shore and on board
Maintain large databases or create a history
Up to 50,000 folders and sub-folders available to support vast database structures

Tailored fleet management

Sub fleets can be managed individually, with full flexibility in naming, vessel-grouping and lossless functionality

Automatic cleanup

Pushed content is automatically deleted after a set period, which keeps databases lean and up to date

Best use of bandwidth

Satellite off-peak data transfer minimises interference with business operations by transmitting data when bandwidth availability is at its highest
Metadata compression – files are even more compressed to further reduce bandwidth

Instant transmissions

As well as regular transmissions at given times is the option to send essential data from ships to shore instantly

Usage control

Restrict data usage by setting daily, weekly or monthly transmission-volume limits, according to your business needs
Fully customisable file-size limits further help to keep data usage under control by avoiding transmission of excessively large files

Subsea 7 awarded three contracts offshore Taiwan and Norway

November 1, 2019

Seaway 7, Subsea 7’s Renewables and Heavy Lifting business unit, has been awarded a contract from Equinor Energy AS for the installation of 11 inner array and two export cables on the Hywind Tampen floating offshore wind farm project, offshore Norway.

The Hywind Tampen project is an 88 MW offshore wind farm comprising 11 wind turbines, each being supported by a floating foundation structure. The field is located between the Snorre (PL089) and Gullfaks (PL050) licenses, to which the windfarm will provide electricity.

Steph McNeill, SVP Subsea 7 Renewables & Heavy Lifting, said:

“We look forward to continuing our long-standing, collaborative working relationship with Equinor and supporting them on their energy transition journey, with the development of their pioneering floating offshore wind farm.”

Hywind Tampen wind farm contracts are subject to final approval of the plan for development and operation (PDO) by Norwegian authorities. The wind farm is scheduled to start production at the end of 2022.

Also Subsea 7 has announced an award by OneSubsea®, the subsea technologies, production and processing systems division of Schlumberger, a front-end engineering design (FEED) study for the subsea umbilicals and flowlines system of the Ormen Lange Field, operated by A/S Norske Shell, in the Norwegian Sea.

A/S Norske Shell awarded OneSubsea an engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract to supply a subsea multiphase compression system. Subsea 7’s scope under this contract includes front-end engineering design (FEED), which will proceed to execution phase in the case of positive FID by A/S Norske Shell and its partners, Petoro, Equinor, INEOS and ExxonMobil. The work will be executed as a Subsea Integration Alliance(1) project.

Subsea 7 has already recognised the value of the engineering studies in its Order Backlog. The value of the execution contract will be recognised after FID, following exercise of the option. Assuming FID is reached, it will be equivalent to a sizeable(2) project award for Subsea 7.

The subsea multiphase compression system provided by OneSubsea will be installed at 850 metres of water depth and consists of two 16-megawatt subsea compression stations tied into existing manifolds and pipelines. Power supply and control will be provided by the Nyhamna onshore gas processing plant, which is located 120km from the subsea location. Once the subsea multiphase compression system is installed, the tieback distance will represent a world record for transmitting variable speed power from shore to seabed.

Monica Th. Bjørkmann, Subsea 7’s Vice President Norway, said:

“This award is an important demonstration of the value Subsea Integration Alliance brings by combining the technologies and capabilities of OneSubsea and Subsea 7 into a seamless integrated offering, resulting in the delivery of optimised solutions, with reduced execution and interface risk. This compression tieback project builds on the Subsea Integration Alliance integrated boosting tieback packages supplied to Taqa Otter in the North Sea and Murphy Dalmatian in the Gulf of Mexico.”

Subsea 7 has announced the award of a sizeable contract for Seaway 7, Subsea 7's Renewables and Heavy Lifting business unit, from Jan de Nul for the Formosa 2 Offshore Wind Farm project in Taiwan.

The contract scope includes the transportation, pre-piling and installation of 47 jacket foundations for wind turbines. Seaway 7 will execute the work in 2020 and 2021 using the heavy lift vessels Seaway Yudin and Seaway Strashnov.

Steph McNeill, SVP Subsea 7 Renewables & Heavy Lifting, said:

"We are pleased to have the opportunity to continue to support the Jan De Nul Group in the development of the Formosa 1 and Formosa 2 wind farms in Taiwan. This contract builds upon our significant capability in the installation of large foundations in the offshore wind industry and increases our experience in the Taiwanese renewable energy sector.”

KVH introduces a high-performance marine satellite TV antenna

October 31, 2019

Maritime innovator KVH’s newest 60 cm satellite antenna designed to deliver favorite satellite TV programming at sea.

KVH Industries, Inc., has introduced the TracVision® UHD7, a high-performance 60 cm (24 inch) marine satellite TV antenna designed to provide boat owners, charter yacht guests, and commercial vessel crews with access to ultra high-definition (UHD) and 4K programming from leading satellite TV providers.

Designed for ease of installation and use, TracVision UHD7 features two-cable installation, automatic satellite switching, fast satellite acquisition speeds, and system control via the TracVision TV-Hub or convenient TracVision app. For reliability in marine conditions, the antenna features multi-axis tracking and a rugged, lightweight design.

Jim George, KVH’s senior director of global leisure sales, says:

“The TracVision UHD7 builds on KVH’s 20-plus years’ of experience with award-winning TracVision products to bring boatowners the fantastic picture quality and favorite TV programming they want. The TracVision UHD7 is designed to make their time on the water even more enjoyable.”

TracVision UHD7 is designed to be as versatile as possible to satisfy boatowners’ demand for a variety of satellite TV programming services, including DIRECTV®, DISH Network®, and Bell. Using KVH’s patented TriADTM technology, TracVision UHD7 is designed to provide DIRECTV programming, including local channels and DVR support, by receiving broadcasts from three DIRECTV satellites simultaneously. TracVision UHD7 is also designed for complete compatibility with DISH Network via a built-in KVH-exclusive DISH Pro Module for receiving DISH Network programming throughout U.S. waters, Central America, and the Caribbean. In addition, TracVision UHD7 is designed for compatibility with Bell service while traveling in Canadian waters.

New 3D geophysical survey vessel in Japan

October 31, 2019

On October 29, a delivery ceremony for a new 3D geophysical survey vessel (seismic vessel) was held at the port of Tokyo and attended by NYK chairman Tadaki Naito.

Potential names for the vessel were submitted by the public, and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) announced the selection of “Tansa” at the ceremony.

The vessel will be operated by Ocean Geo-Frontier Co. Ltd (OGF),* which is a company jointly owned by NYK and others. Through a consignment service agreement with OGF and JOGMEC, NYK is entering the geophysical survey business at the most upstream part of the energy value chain** and making efforts to accumulate experience and technical expertise in new fields. This survey will promote the development of domestic resources and contribute to the discovery of new oil and gas fields in sea areas around Japan. NYK also aims to expand the business by concluding contracts for surveys with private companies, including those based overseas.

IEC Telecom presents latest connectivity solutions for oil & gas sector

October 31, 2019

Digitalisation in the oil and gas sector is a topic of great interest to the industry, with experts beginning to acknowledge the immense benefits it can bring.

Energy companies are rapidly adopting digitalisation to stay sustainable and competitive by reducing their production and exploration costs. Oil and gas companies in the Middle East are also increasing their investments in digital transformation to scale up their output. According to BP Energy Outlook 2019, the Middle East remains the largest oil producing region and the second largest gas producer, with 36% of global oil and 20% of gas output.

Nabil Ben Soussia, Vice President Maritime, IEC Telecom Group commented:

“Studies indicate that between now and 2025, digital transformation in the oil and gas industry could unlock approximately $1.6 trillion of value for the industry, its customers and wider society. Digitalisation has the potential to generate around $1 trillion for oil and gas businesses as well as create benefits worth approximately $640 billion for the wider society. The ability to facilitate improved crew communications, online access and seamless operational performance is driving demand for new solutions, accelerating a new era of connectivity.”

In this backdrop, leading global provider of managed network communication solutions, IEC Telecom Group, along with their partners, Intellian, Thuraya and Yahclick will showcase their latest connectivity solutions at this year’s Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC, 11-14 November 2019) to meet the needs of the oil and gas industry.

IEC Telecom Group will display its latest solution OneGate Energy, designed as a land variation of its unique solution OneGate, presented earlier this year to maritime (OneGate Marine) and offshore (OneGate Offshore) markets. OneGate keeps remote units connected, providing high quality data for daily operations and staff welfare. It provides access to a virtual platform that hosts a wide range of critical applications. This enables the technical team to maintain, update, and upgrade onsite infrastructure remotely, saving time and money on logistics. OneGate also separates corporate environment from staff network. Such a segregation ensures that e-operations and classified data remain safe eliminating cyber threats.

At the expo, IEC Telecom also joins forces with its strategic partner Thuraya to showcase the bespoke Thuraya VSAT+ service. Combining the reach of the Ku-band with the flexibility of the L-Band, Thuraya VSAT+ delivers high throughput services for bandwidth-hungry applications, effectively speeding up digitalization of offshore platforms. It caters to all vessel types and offshore budget requirements.

Together with its strategic satellite broadband partner Yahclick, IEC Telecom will also demonstrate a robust IEC Welfare Solution, specifically designed to provide on-demand data access for team members and third-party contractors at onshore and offshore oil and gas facilities, as well as at remote sites across other industries such as the construction one for instance. Powered by Yahclick satellite broadband, IEC Welfare offers uninterrupted and cost-effective connectivity thanks to YahClick’s use of the efficiencies provided by High Throughput Satellite (HTS) technologies over the Ka-Band.

Port of Zeebrugge investing in 5G network

October 31, 2019

Driven by a clear strategic vision, the Port of Zeebrugge is to invest in a superfast critical communication network. 5G is the key technology that will be revolutionary, especially for industrial uses. The private 5G network in the Port of Zeebrugge will be the accelerator for innovation in and around the port.

The port of Zeebrugge is an ultramodern logistics platform completely at the service of the European and intercontinental markets. The hyperfast reliable connectivity bubble will attribute to the competitive position of the port, the private companies, involved governments, associated interest groups and organizations.

The 5G network delivers efficient, fast and optimal connectivity. The network’s brain is located in the port’s datacenter. This keeps all data safe within the port authority’s own network and makes it independent from external influences.

In the first phase, the data network will be used for connectivity with tugboats, air pollution detectors, camera’s and quay sensors. For the new sealock, which is to be constructed in the near future, the high-bandwidth and low-latency connectivity will prove to be an asset.

5G will be deployed at port companies for dispatching, connectivity with straddle carriers, track and trace systems and critical group communication.

The first external users of this network have already signed up. They will utilize the Port of Zeebrugge’s 5G network for communication during the construction and maintenance of offshore wind farms.

The rollout of this 5G network will speed up the innovation and automation in the port. This platform will be an accelerator for IoT, autonomous vessels, augmented reality (AR) and drones.

Phase one, which will be operational by the end of this year, sets course for the use of the 5G network in Zeebrugge’s outer port. The second phase will include the inner port and will be implemented mid 2020.

The Port of Zeebrugge has partnered with Citymesh. Citymesh will deliver the end to end support and provide the commercial exploitation of the network. Citymesh hereby strengthens its position on the 5G market, where they, as the only operator, establish private 5G networks in close cooperation with technology partner Nokia.

Mitch De Geest, CEO Citymesh:

“Citymesh is thrilled to be able to work with the Port of Zeebrugge to build the port of the future. At the levels of continuous security, operational certainty and flexibility, Citymesh 5G offers many possibilities. This decision shows the Port of Zeebrugge is working out a long term vision and is ready to face the challenges in digital transformation.”

Joachim Coens, CEO Port of Zeebrugge:

“As a port authority we want to stimulate the private partners in the port to apply the best innovative solutions in every part of the logistics chain. The 5G technology will make this possible. We feel it is important that we act as an initiator and that we can provide this connectivity bubble for our port companies.”

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