Strong Performer
Published
July 2014: The Ulstein Verft newbuild, the OCV vessel ‘Island Performer’, is destined for American waters. Contracted by FTO, she will serve her first five years as a riserless well intervention vessel (RLWI) in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship can perform operations at depths down to 3,000 metres.
Island Performer in reference list
Tom Inge Vetrhus is Island Offshore’s site project manager, and has developed a very good tone with the people at Ulstein Verft:
“Ulstein Verft has a very professional approach. Ships coming from this yard have high quality and finish, they’re of their own standard. We meet people in the ship construction area who take professional pride in their work. On our comments, things are fixed rapidly, we don’t have to sit down to discuss details in meetings. This makes it easy to work with Ulstein, and the work progress is steady. Speaking out of experience, Ulstein will once again deliver on-time.”
EQUIPPED FOR SUBSEA WORK
“A large intervention tower is placed over the 8 by 8-metre main moon pool, and she carries the highest class of dynamic positioning, DP3. She is equipped with a 250-ton AHC offshore crane and a below-deck winch, and carries two deep-sea work ROVs, one to be launched through a dedicated moon pool and the other from the starboard side", says technical manager Trond Hauge, Island Offshore.
HEIGHTENED FREEBOARD
A shelter deck around the main moon pool increases the operational window for moon pool work and offers a shielded space for various equipment. Arranged on the shelter deck is a multi-skidding system for handling 100-ton skidding pallets. The design includes a large cargo deck for transport of equipment for a multitude of operations.
SAFETY AND COMFORT
‘Island Performer’ has a crew capacity of 130, and in case of evacuation, each of the lifeboats on the starboard and port sides can accommodate everyone on board. The heli deck is placed closer to the mid part of the vessel, where movements are at the lowest, in order to increase the weather window for crew change.
“Having an experienced in-house team of engineers, we can adjust the design to suit the customer’s needs, of which the customer receives all updated drawings and documents,” states project manager Tommy Norhagen in Ulstein Verft.
Trond Hauge comments:
“Island Offshore has previous experience with this design. The two SX121 designed vessels already in our fleet have proven to be very successful to us. Our policy is to keep a modern fleet in which the most advanced vessels are specifically developed to perform their duties in the best possible way. We wish to be a frontrunner in the subsea market, offering only the best vessels, and we are certain that the ‘Island Performer’ will achieve good results in complex deep water operations in the Gulf of Mexico.”
FTO is a joint venture between FMC Technologies and the two ship owners, Edison Chouest Offshore and Island Offshore.