New MV Bluefort boat landing cuts transfer bottleneck

Workers staying onboard the 142 metre MV Bluefort can get onto crew transfer vessels and out to turbines in record time following the construction of a specially-designed landing that caters for at least six different types of CTVs.

With a personnel transfer rate of 15 seconds per person, the new boat landing means the bottleneck that is familiar on service operations vessels has been removed. Offering accommodation for up to 200 offshore workers, the vessel can send crews out to install, commission or service as many as 25 turbines per day.

Owned by Bridgemans Services Group LP (BSG), MV Bluefort has bow and stern thrusters that increase its capabilities in tough offshore conditions, enabling it to remain steady at anchor in seas with up to 6 metre significant wave height and within project health, safety and environment guidelines.

BSG President Brian Grange said the company put a huge effort into redesigning the vessel’s boat landing following research, tests and feedback from clients and it was incorporated into a package of upgrade works that totalled €6 million.

“We wanted to make sure that Bluefort was the most efficient option for today’s wind farm developments but was also future-proofed for the coming projects that are further from shore and in deeper waters,” he said. “We have ensured it can adapt to the next generation of larger crew transfer vessels that will be able to operate in seas of 2.5 metres and above.

“The improvement works that we carried out have ensured that Bluefort has the safest and most flexible and versatile CTV boat landing capability on the market.”

MV Bluefort is currently providing a home for workers commissioning the turbines at the 350 MW Iberdrola-owned Wikinger Offshore Wind Farm, located 30 kilometres north-east of the German island of Rugen.

The vessel is represented by global shipbroker Clarksons Platou’s Offshore Renewables team.

Clarkson Platou’s David Matthews added: “BSG’s Bluefort is impressive in terms of size and flexibility but its boat landing really gives it the edge over other floatels because its robust design ensures such a high transfer rate and efficient movement of people to and from the field, where they are needed”.