Rolls-Royce has won a contract to supply water jets for three wind farm support vessels.
The company will supply three wind farm workboats, one 24m and two 26m aluminium catamarans to be built by South Boats IOW for the offshore wind transfer vessel operator Seacat Services.
The company claims the contract as one of the biggest orders made for wind farm workboats.
The new wind farm work boats will include MTU 12V 2000 engines, which will power the catamarans to speeds of up to 30k.The catamarans will be used for people and cargo transfers to the growing number of offshore wind farms around the coast of Europe.
Rolls-Royce marine sales manager UK Andy Brett said Rolls-Royce has been selected to provide water jet technology for the next generation of European workboats being delivered by South Boats IOW.
“Rolls-Royce water jet technology offers a combination of speed, efficiency and excellent manoeuvrability for these vessels, which will regularly operate in challenging sea conditions with strong winds and currents. These are essential factors when safely transferring people and equipment onto the turbine structures,” Brett said.
This order brings the number of Rolls-Royce powered vessels in service or on order from South Boats IOW and their sister company Alicat Workboats to 24.
Alicat Workboats & South Boats IOW sales & marketing manager Ben Colman said reliability and performance are of utmost importance in the industry and are how all vessels are measured, which is why the company selected Rolls-Royce water jet units.
“With the A3-series we have found excellent performance with speeds higher than predicted with excellent fuel efficiency as a result. The build quality and reliability of the A3-series water jet units is clear to see, we have seen excellent reliability from the 20 units we have fitted over the last couple of years,” Colman said.
Also featuring on the vessels is Rolls-Royce’s new compact control system for water jets, which is completely tailored to suit owners’ requirements and reduces build and installation times.
