The offshore market is becoming of increasing importance to Finnish suppliers, partly because of the current downturn in traditional shipbuilding orders. Finnish companies have a wealth of offshore-related niche expertise from ice management to automatic welding for shipyards. Meg Chesshyre went to Helsinki to find out more.
Global power and automation specialist ABB Marine received a US$160 million order this spring from the Jurong shipyard in Singapore for the design, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of the main electrical systems for seven next generation drillships being built to operate in the ultradeep pre-salt region off Brazil. Equipment deliveries to the shipyard are scheduled for 2013 with the first drillship due for delivery in 2Q 2015.
The group has a couple of recent technological developments of specific interest for offshore applications. It continues to develop its family of azipod thrusters, built at factories in Finland and China. There are now around 230 azipod systems in operation worldwide with 24/7 maintenance and modernization back-up. Azipod XO is the newest member of the family in the 4.5 to 25 MW power range. A compact Azipod C series is available for the power range up to 4.5 MW. The emphasis is on continuing to improve operation and maintenance costs.
ABB’s new onboard DC grid is now commercially available and the group has won a pilot order from Norwegian owner Myklebusthaug. The grid is being installed a newbuild platform supply vessel, Dina Star, under construction at the Kleven shipyard in Ulsteinvik. Dina Star is a 93m-long, 4800 GT type MT 6015 multipurpose oil field supply and construction vessel designed by Norwegian company Marin Teknikk. It has five variable-speed diesel generators, four rated at 2300 kW and one at 930 kW, two 2200 kW main propulsion units and three additional thrusters for DP operations.
The new DC system merges the various DC links around the vessel and distributes power through a single 1000V DC circuit, thereby eliminating the need for main AC switchboards, distributed rectifiers, and converter transformers with consequent weight savings. All electric power-generated is fed either directly or via a rectifier into a common DC bus that distributes the electrical energy to the onboard consumers.
Each main consumer is then fed by a major inverter unit. Additional converters for energy storage in batteries or super capacitors for leveling out power variations can be added to the grid. The system has been remodeled so that most of the well-proven products used in today’s electric ship such as AC generators, inverter modules and AC motors can still be used.
The DC grid concept allows for increased efficiency because the system is no longer locked to a specific frequency (usually 60 Hz on ships), even though any 60 Hz power source may still be used. The new freedom of controlling each power consumer independently opens up numerous ways of optimizing fuel consumption. The end result is that a typical offshore support vessel can achieve fuel savings of up to 20%. The system is a nominee for the technology spotlight award at OTC this year.
Aker Arctic
Aker Arctic Technology (AARC) was established in 2005, as a spin off from Aker Yards, but has more than 40 years of ice-modeling experience behind it. Past references include 60% of all the world’s icebreakers. The shareholders are STX Finland, ABB and Aker Solutions. A new state of the art ice model test facility in the Vuosaari business park in the new port area of Helsinki was opened in 2006. The new test facility, believed to be the only such privately own facility in existence, has been fitted with a glass bottom to improve the possibilities for visual observation. It required an investment of €10.3 million.
AARC managing director, Mikko Niini, says that more and more of the company’s activities are now being devoted directly to offshore developments. “Oil majors are our main clients nowadays. We have framework agreements in place with most of the oil companies. We do a lot of feasibility studies for them.” A current project involves working with CB&I Lummus carrying out studies for Novatek and Total, for transportation options from the Russian Yamal pennisula. The operators are now evaluating tenders for the 12 LNG tankers which will be needed for the project.
AARC is looking into new modeling tools for ice management and has developed a real-time ice simulator in partnership with Finnish software and system development companies Imagesoft and Simulco. A first agreement for the use of the simulator as a training tool has been signed with the Finnish Maritime Academy Aboa Mare in Turku.
It is also looking into designs for the development of ice-management vessels. It has had requests for designs, but no vessels have yet been ordered. Efficient ice management could lead to a change in design criteria. With ice management vessels on hand to break ice into smaller pieces, it would no longer be necessary to take into account the 1000-year load, so structures could be smaller. Shell’s drilling campaign in Alaska last year involved ice management principles, using the existing ice-breakers Fennica and Nordica.
For the past year Aker Arctic has been designing the new polar icebreaker for the Canadian Coast Guard as part of a team led by STX Canada Marine. The second phase of the design is now being completed and the final design stage is expected to be ready in November this year. The new Canadian polar icebreaker CCGS John G Diefenbaker is intended to replace the CCGS Louis St Laurent by 2017.
AARC carried out a concept design contract for an ice breaker for China Polar Research Institute of China last year. The basic design starts this summer, to be ready by the end of 2013. The ship will be built at a Chinese shipyard in Shanghai. It will have accommodation for 90, a length overall of about 120m, a breadth of 22.3m and a draught of 8.5m. It will be able to break through 1.5m of level ice at 2 to 3 knots, including multi-year ice.
Another current project is the Aurora Slim, designed for Ericon (European Research Icebreaker consortium ) an EU-funded project set up to design a new multi-disciplinatry polar research icebreaker with core drilling capability. The Ericon members represent national maritime research institutions from Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Romania, Bulgaria, Norway, Russia, Netherlands and Belgium. Aurora Slim is a cost-effective technical solution and proposal developed designed and tested by Aker Arctic Technology. The concept uses ABB Marine’s Azipod propulsion. The construction schedule has not yet been decided
On a commercial front, drilling contractors are beginning to look at drillships with ice capability. AARC is carrying out study work on behalf of clients, but the contracts are confidential.
Deltamarin
Finnish-based naval architect and engineering firm Deltamarin has an impressive track record in FPSO and ship design. It hopes to announce another FPSO FEED contract award shortly. It carried out four FPSO FEEDs in the North Sea last year. Three of these were for refurbishment of existing FPSOs for Teekay Petrojarl. The fourth was a conversion FEED for an existing tanker to operate in the UK sector. This contract is in the tendering stage.
”Generally in the North Sea the most challenging issues that we face and what we try to resolve are struture related issues – the fatigue of the conversion vessel, combining hydrodynamic expertise and structural analysis to provide a very comprehensive motion analysis,” says Sales Director Oskari Jaakkola. Interface management is very critical, working very closely with topsides engineering companies such as WorleyParsons or Amec.
Other recent projects included the Dockwise Vanguard. Delivered earlier this year, it is designed to transport cargos without length restrictions. An additional feature is that it can also be used for drydocking FPSOs offshore without needing to disconnect from the turret or riser system. Another very interesting vessel has been designed for Allsea’s Pieter Schelte, the world’s biggest ship – 382m long and is currently under construction at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in Korea (See separate story).
Revenue from offshore related work increased to about a third of Deltamarine’s total revenue last year, with average total annual revenue running at about €25-30 million. Jaakkola sees the North Sea as the company’s main market, but it is also eyeing Brazil, because of the extreme depths, and West Africa because of the massive size of the units. Deltamarin recently developed a ’plug and play’ power module, which it is marketing through partner Caterpillar’s dealer network. It is being tendered on various projects, and Deltamarin hopes to secure it s first contract very soon.
The module is based on Caterpillar’s CAT CM-series engines. It is designed to meet the criteria for even the harshest environments, such as the North Sea, and for single lift installation onto an FPSO deck. It combines the reliability of CAT products with a state of the art packaging solution from Deltamarin. The modular design allows for the generator, or other equipment, to be removed (and installed) through a hole in the roof. The power rating ranges from 3800 to 17820 kWe and the weight from 240-600 tons. It can run on MDO, HFO, crude oil or fuel gas.
Pemamek
Finnish-based Pemamek has a 40-year track record of delivering advanced automation solutions to shipyards. Jukka Rantala, director, sales and marketing with the company, acknowledges that “at the moment, offshore is the driving force in shipbuilding. Traditional shipbuilding is pretty dead still in many places.”
Pemamek has recently been selected by rig builder Keppel FELS to implement the latest in modern welding automation system for the Singapore yard’s production facilities. The contract is worth over €10 million. Keppel FELS has successfully delivered almost half of the world’s newbuild jackup rigs and a third of the semisubmersibles in the past decade.
Delivery to Singapore will consist of an extensive flat panel line with several highly advanced systems and a supporting micro panel line. They can be further upgraded with roboticsto improve the productivity of the yard. Installation will be performed while production continues. The Pema welding stations and portals will use the latest welding technology from Pemamek’s global partner Lincoln Electric.
Pemamek will also provide Keppel with local service support and maintenance to ensure smooth production and minimizedowntime. Pemamek says that advanced technology of its welding and cutting automation will reduce production costs and increase the speed of the panel line process.
This contract is the second between Keppel and Pemamek in a year: Keppel Offshore & Marine’s new yard in Baku, Azerbaijan, acquired a panel line system in early 2012. Keppel’s Baku Shipyards focus on building tankers, offshore service vessels (OSV), and ship repair.
Technip in Norway and Finland is another customer, as is the Chouest Group in the US. For Technip, Pemamek has delivered columns and booms to the Orkanger base in Norway. These are used in supporting the submerged arc welding equipment for double jointing the pipes into 24m lengths. For the Chouest Group, Pematek has supplied production automation systems used in the production of offshore vessels for Edison Chouest Offshore.
Pemamek has developed the Pema 200 VisionWeld system, an easyto- use welding automation system. This enables anyone to program the machine to weld with one short day’s training. The VisionWeld system differs from conventional offline welding systems because of its built-in CAD system and by the instant welding when the first task has been given to the system. Use of VisionWeld system requires no input from the customer’s CAD system.
Everything is based on a patented positioning system that uses images recorded by a robot.. The robot takes several images of the work piece or of the working area, and the operator is instantly ready to draw first welds for the robot using a mouse. VisionWeld is able to program from one to eight robots in the same gantry so that a single operator controls multiple arc systems, providing a low cost means of raising throughput.
STX Finland
Following STX Europe’s sale of STX OSV to the Italian shipbuilding group Fincantieri at the beginning of this year, STX Finland is beginning to take an interest in the offshore construction vessel market in its own right, according to Eero Mäkinen senior vice president, marketing,
STX Finland, a subsidiary of STX Europe, has a 50:50 joint ownership in the Arctech Helsinki shipyard with Russian ship building giant United Shipbuilding Corporation (OSK). This has been in operation a couple of years. STX Finland owns two other shipyards in Finland - Turku and Rauma, but these specialize more in cruise ships and ferries. STX Finland also has a 71% interest in Aker Arctic Technology.
Arctech Helsinki has just completed two icebreaking offshore supply vessels for Sovcomflot (SCF Group). The vessels will supply ExxonMobil’s Arkutun Dagi oil and gas field in the Sakhalin area in Far East Russia. The Vitus Bering (yard No. 506) was delivered ahead of schedule in December. Its sister vessel Alexei Chrikov (yard No. 507) was due for delivery last month.
Both vessels for Sovcomflot will be similar measuring 99m in length and 21.7m in breadth. Their four engines have the total power of 18,000 kW and the propulsion power of 13,000 kW. They are both equipped with two 6.5 MW Azipod VI (ice version) units supplied by ABB. These vessels have been designed for extreme environmental conditions. They will be operating in thick drifting ice in temperatures as cold as minus 35° C.
The vessels’ main role is to supply the gas production platform and to protect it from the ice. The icebreaking capability of the vessels is extremely high. They are able to operate independently in 1.7m-thick ice. They are multipurpose vessels, capable of carrying various types of cargo and equipped for oil spill collection, fire fighting, and rescue operations. The rescue capacity is for 195 persons.
Arctech Helsinki is also participating in the construction of an icebreaking multipurpose emergency and rescue vessel (yard No. 508) for the Russian Ministry of Transport. The contract is a joint one with United Shipbuilding Corp. subsidiary Shipyard Yantar JSC. The vessel will be delivered to the customer in December 2013. The hull of the vessel is being built by Shipyard Yantar. The outfitting and finalizing of the vessel will be done by Arctech in Helsinki.
The design of the vessel is based on the ARC 100 concept, which has been developed by Aker Arctic Technology for the Arctech Helsinki shipyard. The vessel features a patented oblique design with asymmetric hull and three azimuthing propulsors, which allow the vessel to operate efficiently ahead, astern and obliquely (sideways). The vessel can proceed on a continuous mode in 1m-thick level ice both ahead and astern and in oblique mode it will be able to generate 50m-wide channel in 0.6m level ice.
The vessel will be used in icebreaking operations, sea towing of vessels, floating facilities, and also features a very advanced oil recovery system suitable for operation even in heavy waves. The vessel measures 76.4m in length and 20.5m in breadth. The three main diesel generator sets have a total power of 9 MW. Total propulsion power is about 7 MW.
TTS Group
The TTS Group is headquartered in Bergen, Norway, but has subsidiaries in Sweden, Finland, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Greece, US, China, Korea, Vietnam and Singapore. TTS Group CEO Johannes D Neteland has a target to make the group a €1 billion company by 2016 through organic growth within offshore and port, strategic acquisitions in the marine sector, and increased service volume all over. He sees supplying equipment to the offshore rig market as an obvious choice for growth.
Neteland describes TTS’ market potential within offshore heavy lifts as sizeable, and characterizes a crane contract with Sigma Drilling last December as a landmark deal. TTS Offshore Handling Equipment will supply the total crane package for a Sigma drillship, including a state of the art subsea crane with active heave compensation. TTS invested US$5 million in Sigma Drilling at the time of the order.
The value of the Sigma contract is around NKr130 million (US$23 million), but according to Neteland, the underlying value to TTS is even greater: “This could well prove to be our golden ticket to an offshore rig market where the word promising might be an understatement.” He estimates that some 30 new drillships are built a year. “If TTS can win crane contracts for only a few of these projects annually, things can really get moving.” At the time of writing, TTS is involved in eight tenders for crane packages for offshore rigs.
The second main ingredient found in the 2016 master plan is increased service volume, the profit margins within service and after-market sales being relatively higher than for new equipment. The TTS board of directors has recently approved a new service strategy including building up extensive service hubs worldwide.
The Sigma contract is with STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co, in Korea and comprises the delivery of four large offshore cranes and equipment for riser handling, including a special crane for pipe handling to be installed on a drillship ordered by Sigma Drilling The contract with STX also comprises an option for delivery of four identical equipment installations. The delivery will take place in 3Q and 4Q 2014. In addition to the Sigma Drilling award, recent offshore awards for TTS have been the supply of a 135tonne subsea crane to Ulstein’s Seven Viking and five consecutive orders for large offshore cranes for Kleven offshore vessels.
Following the completion of the acquisition of Neuenfelder Maschinenfabrik (NMF) in August 2012, TTS integrated all German crane operations into the TTS NMF company and facilities beginning in early March. The integrated team now covers the full range of cargo and offshore cranes from operations in Hamburg. TTS NMF has also delivered a 900 tonne, lattice boom windmill installation crane which will be installed on board of M/V Aeolus operated by Dutch owner Van Oord and built by Sietas Shipyard.
Wärtsilä
The offshore sector is a significant proportion of power solutions company Wärtsilä’s business, says Magnus Miemois, vice president, solutions, in the ship power division. This is particular sobecause the merchant market is down. The sector comprises offshore drilling, FPSOs, and OSVs. Wärtsilä is a significant ship designer in the OSV sector. “We easily stand for 25%, sometimes 30% of the vessel value.”
A recent ship design contract is for a new diving support vessel (DSV) to be built for Subsea 7. The brand new VS 4725 DSV design has been created by Wärtsilä Ship Design specifically for this vessel, which is being built at the Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) shipyard in Korea and is scheduled for delivery in 2015.
Another ship design contract has just been awarded by Armada Offshore MPSV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysia’s Bumi Armada Berhad, for a series of four multi-purpose platform support vessels (MPSV). The vessels will be built by a subsidiary of Malaysian shipbuilder Nam Cheong, in one of its subcontracted yards, Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding, in China. The order follows the successful execution of a similar MPSV order in 2011 for Bumi Armada Berhad
An interesting contract for Wärtsilä has been the supply of three main power modules to the Brazilian industrial group QUIP for the new P-63 FPSO vessel, which will be the first FPSO to use gas engines to produce more than 100 MWe of power. Designed and produced by Wärtsilä, each power module includes two 18-cylinder 50DF tri-fuel engines in V-configuration, as well as alternators and all required auxiliary equipment.
The contract includes commissioning, start-up and operational supervision. The vessel, which has now arrived in Brazil, will operate on the Papa Terra oilfield, located some 110 kms off Rio de Janeiro in the southern Campos Basin. The field development concept involves the P-61 tension-leg wellhead platform coupled to the P-63 FPSO. The Papa Terra joint venture partners are Petrobras (operator) and Chevron.
Another recent offshore order is for the supply a series of pumps to be installed on a new floating storage unit, being built by Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea for Statoil. When completed, the unit will be located on the Heidrun oil and gas field in the Norwegian Sea. Delivery of the Wärtsilä equipment is scheduled for February 2014.
On the technology side, the Wärtsilä GasReformer is one of the nominees for the spotlight on new technology prize and this month’s Offshore Technology Conference in Houston. The equipment uses steam reforming technology to convert associated gas to a quality that can be used as fuel in Wärtsilä’s range of gas-fueled engines. The reformer enables self-sustaining power generation for the offshore operation, provides cost savings and has the benefit of environmental sustainability.
With the development of tighter emission controls worldwide, there is growing interest in the LNGpowered OSVs. Wärtsilä is at the forefront here. The first gas-fueled platform supply vessel, Eidesvik Offshore’s Viking Energy, has just turned 10 years old. It was designed by Wärtsilä Ship Design, and built by Kleven and is on long-term charter to Statoil. It is fitted with four six-cylinder Wärtsilä 32DF dual fuel, diesel and gas, engines, but runs on gas almost all the time resulting in 85% lower NOx emissions than when using diesel.
Wärtsilä’s latest order from Harvey Gulf International Marine is the fifth it has received from the vessel operator. The contract is to supply a complete liquefied natural gas (LNG) package, including the propulsion, auxiliaries and controls, for a new offshore support vessel designed by STX Marine. The vessel will operate in the Gulf of Mexico. In October 2011, Wärtsilä technology was selected for two new Harvey Gulf offshore support vessels making them the first ever US-flagged platform supply vessels (PSVs) to be powered by LNG. The order to supply gas propulsion packages for a further two Harvey Gulf ships was received shortly thereafter.
Wärtsilä is in the process of setting up a new fully-owned manufacturing facility in Brazil to meet the increasing market demand, particularly in the offshore market. See Geographic focus for more on this new facility. OE
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