Daughter craft can meet growing demand for offshore wind vessels in challenging environments across Europe and APAC, according to a report from Chartwell Marine.
As the offshore wind industry scales to meet ambitious capacity targets, there is a growing demand for vessels that can operate effectively in environments far from shore, Chartwell Marine’s report said.
“To complement CTVs and SOVs and help meet growing vessel demand, the offshore wind industry urgently needs an innovative solution. For too long, we’ve taken a bigger-is-better approach to vessel procurement, but it’s time for us to ‘scale down to scale up,” said Andy Page, Chartwell’s founder and managing director.
By integrating the core strengths of CTVs into a smaller, more adaptable vessel, Chartwell argues next-generation daughter craft will create significant efficiencies for offshore wind vessel operations across the following areas:
Transporting crews quickly, comfortable and safely around offshore wind farms from SOV motherships anchored on site – eliminating the conventional 2-hour CTV roundtrip to and from shore.
Maximizing the reach of an on-site SOV, by enabling technicians to simultaneously service multiple wind turbines, cutting overall deployment times substantially.
Providing a designated safe refuge or emergency rescue option in situations where the SOV is required to operate beyond a 2-hour safe recovery range.
Acting as a temporary nearshore CTV, taking on less demanding logistical charters for wind farms located closer to shore.
“Working with Chartwell Marine to create the ultimate offshore wind daughter craft has been an absolute pleasure,” said Andrew Duncan, North Star renewables and innovations director.
Daughter craft, on average, can be built for around 25% of the cost of a typical CTV and take 6-8 months to build – half the time of a traditional CTV. Furthermore, they can be built efficiently by local boatyards using standardized construction kits and off-the-shelf components – helping to satisfy local content requirements in APAC and other markets.
More info: www.chartwellmarine.com
