Paris: Classification society Bureau Veritas reports it has been chosen to class two different series of sophisticated ice-breaking tugs for service in the Caspian Sea.
The first series is for three plus two 66 m loa ice-breaking and ice
management tugs with 50 tonne bollard pull and Ice Class IA Super
Special Service - North Caspian Sea Icebreaker with ice breaking
capability up to 0.6 m level ice thickness. Designed by Aker Arctic,
they will be built in the STX RO Offshore Braila yard in Romania for the
Caspian Offshore Construction group project in the North Caspian Kashgan
oil field.
"These vessels have been designed by Aker Arctic and will be classed by
Bureau Veritas, linking two centres of expertise," explains Gijsbert de
Jong, manager, Bureau Veritas. "The vessels have to be very tough to
work in the Caspian and Russian waters. The design has been tailor made
for optimum performance in the shallow waters of the North Caspian Sea,
where the vessels will break level ice up to 60 cm thick and can operate
year round in ice conditions up to 1 m thick. In addition to towage and
pushing barges in open water and in ice conditions, they will be capable
of ice management operations in astern working mode, clearing ice
rubble. The vessels will be equipped for undertaking firefighting,
rescue and evacuation tasks and have deck cargo capability for supply
functions. Bureau Veritas experts have evaluated the ship's hull
structure under ice-breaking loads, taking into account the specific
conditions of the North Caspian Sea, by performing a direct assessment
of the ice pressures under different operating scenarios."
The second series is currently out to tender and is for shallow draft
ice-breaking AHTS vessels to be built for Silverburn Shipping. Designed
by Netherlands-based Offshore Ship Designers these vessels will be easy
to maintain and repair and can work in 70 cm of ice. They have a
significant load carrying capability on a shallow draft and provide a
minimum 45 tonne BP. Model tests at Aker Arctic showed the hull form can
perform in ice to Finnish/Swedish Ice Class 1A Super standards. Main
dimensions are LOA 49.6 m, beam 16.5 m, seagoing draft 3.5 m, shallow
draft 2.5 m.
"Bureau Veritas has invested heavily in developing expertise in working
in difficult ice environments," explains de Jong. "And we have a lot of
experience with very sophisticated offshore craft. In these projects we
can bring all that expertise to bear on robust, simple but highly
capable vessels, helping the designers, yards and owners to achieve the
vessels they need for a tough job." [01/09/09]
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