NO.8 | 2015 Maritime Holland Special Fast Forward Rewind& 2015/2016 René ten Brinke Experienced strategist Acta Orion Ilembe Maritime Aquijo prizes galore! Acta Orion © Reprinted from Maritime Holland | No. 8 December 2015 www.maritimeholland.com | Publisher: Navingo BV | www.navingo.com Photo by Flying Focus In early November 2015, wind farm support vessel Acta Orion was handed over to her owners, Acta Marine. 22 October saw CIG Shipbuilding host a grand celebration at their facilities in Harlingen, during which Didi te Gussinklo Ohmann, project manager for offshore wind projects at Van Oord, performed the naming ceremony. The vessel immediately embarked on successful sea trials and, two weeks later, was handed over to start her first project under operational management of Seamar Services. As the largest ship in Acta Marine’s fleet, it will Based on their 6000 GC-E model, CIG have be deployed on behalf of Van Oord to work on optimised the design, in close collaboration with MARITIME HOLLAND | NO. 8 | 2015 MARITIME HOLLAND | NO. the Gemini Offshore Wind Farm, 85 kilometres Van Oord and Acta Marine, to create a vessel off the northern Dutch coast. The DP2 vessel of with optimum uptime for operations in chal- 108 by 16 metres will assist with the construc- lenging sea states, employable for wind farms tion and commissioning of the 600 MW project further offshore. The goal was to customise the of the Northland consortium. Acta Orion will 6000 GC-E into a stable and comfortable hotel begin her charter, supporting cable-laying vessel accommodation with transfer facilities for per- Nexus, accommodating technicians working on sonnel and equipment, to efficiently support the the turbine foundation and connecting cables. offshore wind industry in North Sea conditions. 038 CIG Shipbuilding’s pioneering offshore wind support vessel for the Acta Marine fleet born under a lucky star reducing (sea) sickness absence rates to an between a dive support vessel and a cargo absolute minimum. vessel/supplier. After finding the right config- uration, supported with the knowledgeable In a nutshell, the hull of the vessel was input of Van Oord and Acta Marine, with primarily required to provide a constantly optimal vessel dimensions resulting in the de- level platform and so it was designed to sired behaviour, the hull form and lines were dampen movements and accelerations in thoroughly tested at the Maritime Research the prevailing sea states. CIG abandoned the Institute of the Netherlands (MARIN). The conventional perception of smaller ships be- research institute tank-tested the vessel in ing cheaper to build and maintain than larger the simulated and downscaled wave spectra ships. They adopted the philosophy of ‘size data typical for the North Sea. Real-time data This market presents an additional challenge: matters’: applying more mass to the vessel of the Gemini Offshore Wind Farm location most employees are skilled technicians in with larger main dimensions. Athwartships, formed the input for control software, includ- ‘land-based’ specialisms, like electro tech- the idea behind this pioneering approach, ing occasional extremes in wind influence and nical or civil engineering, but do not have a resulted in a relatively low GM (metacentric swell over a representative period of time. maritime background, and are not used to height) combined with a comparatively large This comprehensive testing deviates from the the ‘charm’ of water-based accommodation beam and freeboard. This led to an increased average testing in standard repetitive wave or transport. range of stability (area under the righting le- patterns and requires a lot of computing ver curve) and pleasant roll motion, featuring power, but creates a highly accurate reflec- Circumstantial evidence a natural roll frequency of approximately nine tion of almost all possible combinations of To satisfy the Van Oord and Acta Marine to ten seconds. The extended length resulted sea states. requirements, Acta Orion had to be capable in more wave periods spanning the length of of operating around the clock in up to 2.5 the hull, whereby the vessel rests on multiple Putting the pieces together MARITIME HOLLAND | NO. 8 | 2015 MARITIME HOLLAND | NO. metre significant wave heights in Dynamic wave crests as opposed to the disturbing Naval architecture in hand, attention was Positioning (DP) mode. The uptime compared pitching motion of smaller vessels. then paid to the selection parameters of the to current vessels on the market had to be propulsion components to satisfy the require- increased by approximately ten per cent, For CIG Maritime Technol- ments of the DP2 system, reducing the customary winter stop to almost ogy, the naval architecture and a well-balanced selec- nil. The vessel design needed to achieve and design office of CIG, SIZE tion of equipment, located minimised rolling motions and reduced this meant developing efficiently on board, was accelerations, increasing cost effectiveness by a vessel somewhere MATTERS high priority. 039 ACTA ORION The project manager for offshore wind projects at Van Oord performed the naming ceremony CIG Shipbuilding hosted a grand celebration at their facilities in Harlingen A motion-compensated walkway is fitted ladder from the water level all the way up to More than meets the eye to facilitate safe and comfortable transfer the upper deck, and refuelling installations Below deck, almost half of the ship’s length of crew and equipment to and from the are provided on main deck near the boat is available for cargo, in one large box-shaped platform deck on top of a transition piece of a landing. hold with a capacity of 3,500 cubic metres. Its wind turbine. The choice of an aft-positioned size is maximised in relation to the layout of walkway, as opposed to the more common For extended loading and unloading duties, the vessel, featuring a length of 25.2 metres midship position, is a sophisticated assess- Acta Orion is equipped with a Lagendijk in the lower hold and 32.9 metres at tween ment of CIG. By positioning the walkway semi-custom built crane, with a lift capacity deck level. The upper hold acquires its extra system all the way to the stern, the vessel’s of ten ton at 17.5 metre or five ton at 21.5 length as a result of an enclosed extension master has more freedom to choose the metre outreach. The knuckleboom crane, over the (lower) engine room; this area is in heading relative to wind, waves and current. with a constant tensioning system, sits on a line with the workshop on main deck and has Whilst a midship walkway would only allow foundation column amidships to starboard a versatile applicability. The accessibility of for passage over the side, the aft walkway side and is intended for lifting cargo from the the hold area is restricted by the dimensions combined with the advantageous ship length quayside or the CTVs and moving equipment of the four hatch covers, being 24.4 to twelve allows the bow to face the wind and waves, on board. metres in total. Hatch covers and gantry crane minimising rolling motions. are supplied by Coops & Nieborg. Furthermore, a technical room amidships An added advantage of the walkway to the contains two 1.2 metre diameter moonpools. The cargo hold of Acta Orion is computed, stern is its location right above the main These overboard pipes with closing valves at towing tank tested and equipped to meet propulsors, making effective use of the avail- the bottom are dedicated to possible future the open top notation. As a result, the able thrust. The ship’s ergonomic heading in use of hydrographic survey equipment, like a vessel is suitable for the transportation of combination with its strategic length-to-wave multi-beam sonar. special project cargo, protruding outside period ratio allows for considerable fuel savings as less propulsion power is needed for station keeping. This is the result of Access to the hold area is provided by four hatch covers, handled by a gantry crane, both supplied by Coops & Nieborg reduced resistance, due to less pitching, and the simple fact that due to the heading, no adverse wind or wave encounters the side of the vessel. Although crew transfer via the motion com- pensated gangway is the preferred method, Acta Orion can be assisted by CTVs (Crew MARITIME HOLLAND | NO. 8 | 2015 MARITIME HOLLAND | NO. Tender Vessels). Accordingly, each side of the vessel is equipped with a dedicated boat landing, consisting of a tapered recess with a BUILT AROUND SEAKEEPING CHARACTERISTICS 041 ACTA ORION For loading and unloading duties, a semi-custom built knuckleboom crane with a constant tensioning system is provided the hold with the upper deck hatch covers with accommodation located as far forward for the accommodation. Above this reduced open, as well as other voluminous goods or as possible. CIG also invested in sophisticated height deck is the entertainment deck (deck equipment. Equipped with sockets, container insulation techniques and special precautions 1a) featuring two saunas and a gymnasium fittings and ample lashing points, the hold can in the placing and mounting of the propulsion with dressing rooms, a cinema, conference also be composed of reefer containers and and DP components. room and more technical spaces. On tween accommodation units. When accommodation deck (deck two) are a HVAC room plus stor- units are installed, the upper hold area (or The vessel can accommodate 80 persons: age, laundry and linen rooms in addition to even the top of the upper deck hatch covers) 25 crew and 55 wind farm technicians. 17 single berth cabins. Above them, on main will be used to allow daylight into the units, Being classed and outfitted according to deck level (deck three), are the galley with whilst the lower hold can still be utilised for the requirements for the SPS2008-code for provision, cool, freeze and garbage stores, other purposes.