UK: James Fisher secures pontoon contract for construction phase of Rampion offshore wind farm

The contract win comes in quick succession to the company’s major marine services contract for Galloper Offshore Wind Farm, further demonstrating its diverse capabilities and ability to provide a single source solution to major owner/operators, delivering reduced contractual risks and increased operational efficiencies. 

JFMS has worked closely with its sister company Mojo Maritime (Mojo) on the Rampion pontoon project, utilising Mojo’s significant naval architecture expertise. With design work completed for the first 60m pontoon section, Rampion has been pleased with the quality of work delivered and has already extended the contract for a further 60m. 

The floating platforms have been specially designed with a special runner system to enable the safe transfer of personnel and improve docking operations, speeding up crew transfer vessel (CTV) transfers by eliminating the need to amend mooring lines and adjust gangways to accommodate the tide. 

Throughout the consultation and design process, every effort was made to minimise costs for Rampion. Nigel Furneaux, Mojo’s project manager explains: “We recommended moving the boarding point of the pontoon to a slightly different position on site, to minimise the routing of electrical services and this small change is expected to save quite a lot of money.”

As well as the pontoon contract extension, JFMS’s involvement in the overall Rampion project has already grown with the provision of a guard vessel for an initial short term charter of 7 weeks. With its considerable experience of vessel sourcing and management, JFMS was able to quickly respond by efficiently mobilising a versatile 26m vessel for rapid deployment, and due to the vessel and crew’s performance so far, the charter has already been extended until the summer. 

James Fisher is at the forefront of delivering integrated solutions for complex marine projects in the offshore renewables industry, and this contract win is another demonstration of its ability to deliver significant added value to its customers. Owner/operators are realising the potential for substantial contractual and operational efficiencies by streamlining their supply chains. 

The Rampion Offshore Wind Farm is being built by E.ON, the Green Investment Bank plc and Canadian energy company Enbridge. It is expected to be completed in 2018.