CWind, the only British company to be awarded a Siemens vessel charter contract out of a European shortlist, has taken delivery of CWind Athenia, a 20-tonne payload, multi-purpose catamaran (MPC).  CWind Athenia is the second of the work vessels built by CTruk Boats (www.ctruk.com) to fulfil CWind’s Siemens contract, incorporating three vessels operating out of Ramsgate on the London Array Offshore Wind Farm. The third is expected to launch in the spring.

CTruk Boats has recently also signed a two-vessel deal for 20-tonne MPCs with another local operator.

Part of CWind’s boat share scheme, CWind Athenia is a joint venture with local skipper Dave Bachelor, who has a Merchant Navy background, as well as commercial experience on the south and east coasts of the UK. CWind Athenia, will be joining Dave Bachelor’s current vessel at the London Array, where the work will mostly involve organising crew transfers. CWind Athenia incorporates CTruk Boats’ flexible pod system, which means the vessel is hugely versatile and can be easily adapted to carry different loads.  It comes standard with 16,000 litres in-hull fuel capacity – delivering a 2,400nm operational range or providing capacity for re-fuelling work.

CWind’s boat share scheme is designed to enable owner/operators to access the growing wind farm market with the backing of an experienced operator. The scheme enables local skippers to part-invest in a CWind vessel, with CWind managing the contracts and finances, through to the QHSE procedures. CWind and the skippers share in the profits.

Peter Jorgenson, Managing Director of CWind explains, “We’re very proud to be the only UKbusiness to win one of these contracts with Siemens out of a European shortlist and delighted to see CWind Athenia launched and off to work. Our boat share scheme enables local owner operators to participate in the wind farm industry. The investment of the skipper means our clients get a can-do attitude combined with the experienced management and QHSE procedures of CWind”.

Built by CTruk Boats in Brightlingsea, CWind Athenia is 18.5m LOA, with a robust build which gives her solid sea-keeping qualities. In addition the vessel has a small carbon footprint as it is very cost-effective burning 90 litres less diesel an hour than an equivalent aluminium vessel.

CWind was the only British company to be awarded a time charter contract from German engineering conglomerate Siemens out of a heavyweight European shortlist and CTruk Boats has delivered to CWind the first of three multi-purpose catamarans from its boatyard in Brightlingsea, Essex to fulfil this contract.

A 20-tonne payload, multi-purpose catamaran, CWind Alliance is the first of the work vessels built by CTruk Boats to fulfil CWind’s Siemens contract, numbering three vessels operating out of Ramsgate on the London Array Offshore Wind Farm. The craft is 18.5m LOA, which should give her better sea-keeping qualities and also incorporates an innovative amphibious rescue pod, which can be launched from the vessel and carry out rescues on dried-out sands.

From the six pre-qualified European companies invited to bid for the contracts by Siemens, CWind was the only British company to be awarded a contract, the two further work vessels to be built by CTruk Boats are expected to launch in early 2012.

“We are delighted to be working with a local supplier. We first worked with CWind on Gunfleet Sands and were impressed with their approach offshore and their plans for the business. It’s important for us to have total confidence in the skippers, their crew and the quality of the vessels. With CWind we feel confident that our needs and requirements will be taken care of and that the team will go the extra mile offshore to make sure the job is completed safely, in accordance with Siemens’ Zero Harm policies and to everyone’s satisfaction,” said Chris Randle, Project Manager for London Array at Siemens.

Part of the boat share scheme, CWind Alliance is a joint venture between local skipper Andy Harman, who will organise the crew. “Our boat share scheme enables local owner operators to participate in the wind farm industry. The investment of the skipper means our clients get a can-do attitude combined with the experienced management and QHSE procedures of CWind,” commented Peter Jorgenson, Managing Director of CWind.

The vessel was designed specifically to meet the varied needs of wind farm support work through a variety of removable pods. The flexible pod system has been trialled for a year whilst on charter to DONG Energy on the Walney Offshore Wind Farm, most recently on Asherah launched in March 2011.

Ben Simpson, Managing Director of CTruk Boats explains “Our design team knew there was scope to improve the types of work boats supporting the growing wind farm industry whilst keeping the safety aspect of offshore work at the forefront of the design. Asherah’s pod system enables her operators to change the vessel’s layout within a few hours to suit the work being carried out that day. By moving the wheelhouse from the front to the back for example, operators can easily adapt the vessel to ferry personnel or carry out fuel or generators.

Brian Croucher, Owner/Operator of Asherah “Rather than just being a refuelling boat, with Asherah we requested a passenger pod, separate dirty fuel and refuelling pods, a pressure washing pod and one for launching amphibious rescue craft. This means we can quickly respond to the varying demands of the wind farm support work, without compromising on safety or efficiency. In addition, none of the pods are heavy enough to cause restrictions, as the vessel has a large carrying capacity”.

CTruk prides itself on its mantra safer, better, faster, more cost-effective, which also drives innovation within the company. Focussing on safety means the team found ways to make the traditionally heavy doors on work vessels, up to 65% lighter by using a resin infusion technique. The company’s choice of Rolls Royce water jets over propellers means that Asherah is more effective in shallow drafts, but also reduces problems with debris in the water which can often result in a day a month out of action.  In addition, the jets’ Vector Stick controls are designed to be intuitive, making it easy for the skipper to use automatically, even when being bombarded with other information whilst docking at the turbine.

The composites which make up Asherah’s hull are designed to make for a smoother, more hydrodynamic shape, whilst being light and very tough. It’s the same material the RNLI uses for its fast lifeboats. This means the vessel uses less fuel and, at 30 knots, appears to be around 5 knots faster than CTruk’s competitors. Asherah was also built under DNV survey.

CTruk prides itself on its mantra better, safer, faster, more cost-effective, which also drives innovation within the company. Focussing on safety means the team found ways to make the traditionally heavy doors on work vessels, up to 65% lighter by using a resin infusion technique. CTruk chose Rolls Royce water jets over propellers. This means that Asherah is more effective in shallow drafts, but also reduces problems with debris in the water, which can often result in a day a month out of action.  In addition, the jets’ Vector Stick controls are designed to be intuitive, making it easy for the skipper to use automatically, even when being bombarded with other information whilst moored at the turbine.

First trialled on the Gunfleet Sands off Brightlingsea where Asherah was built under DNV survey, the flexible pod system was chosen to carry out the transfer of wind farm transition pieces because its unique ability to move the wheelhouse aft gave clear working decks forward and good visibility of the lift for the skipper. Once the generators had been returned, the passenger pod was lifted back on to carry out crew transfer duties.

CTruk specialises in the design, build and operation of wind farm support vessels.  It also takes very seriously the importance of feedback. Hard won operating experience from the prototype was fed back directly into the design of Asherah, resulting in small but significant benefits like the position of the bollards. Normally on the outside for work boats, on Asherah they are shifted to the inside, making it easier to tie-up to the wind farm posts. These may appear to be small changes, but shaving a few minutes off each trip, makes it safer and quicker, less wearing on people and the boat.

Competition for the wind farm support vessel market is growing with boat builders from Australia, Holland and Norway entering the sector. CTruk Boats is a UK, home grown company with a proven, innovative vessel. Asherah has now reached the final round of the SeaWork 2011 Innovation Showcase, a huge testament to the team’s original idea and commitment to building better, safer, faster, more cost-effective boats for the offshore industry.

Ben Simpson of CTruk Boats explains, “We’ve been working with the crew of the Advance to find out what works best and what we can improve on. So far, we’ve discovered that the flexible pod system has been successful with Advance. The water jets have also made a huge improvement on the down time we experienced with propellers, where we used to lose up to a day a month lost due to debris damaging the prop”. He continued, “We are the only company which is specialising in the design, build and operation of wind farm support vessels. This means that hard won operating experience gets fed back directly into the design of the vessels