The IMR vessel ‘Seven Viking’ has been nominated as ‘Ship of the Year 2013’ by the maritime magazine ‘Skipsrevyen’.
‘Seven Viking’ has been working for Statoil in the North Sea since February, and carries out a multitude of tasks including inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) of subsea oil installations, alongside scale treatment and RFO operations. The vessel is designed and constructed by ULSTEIN and owned by Eidesvik Offshore and Subsea 7.
“’Seven Viking’ is a high quality product, a ship that is tailor-made for IMR operations and with unmatched technical and operational capacity within this sector. She operates in a most satisfactory way, and our client is very pleased. She has become the ‘talk-of-the-town’ within the oil and gas sector”, claims Subsea 7’s Offshore Manager, Vidar Øvstedal.
Although restricted in size, the vessel is certainly not restricted in her capacity to carry a litany of essential subsea tools and personnel, thanks to a clever configuration whereby hull space is maximised and equipment is integrated within a large hangar area.
“She is a truly optimised design for her array of tasks,” states Stuart Fitzgerald, Vice President Norway, Subsea 7. “The ability to carry all the necessary maintenance equipment on board the vessel ensures that she can operate continually and meet any challenge, absolutely minimising operational downtime. In addition, she features a separate accommodation unit – positioned away from all active work areas – to ensure that the crew can rest without any disturbances.”
“I am overwhelmed. Being on board a brand-new vessel, I had expected some teething problems, but all systems are working smoothly. We hardly had any disruptions in our work whatsoever”, says Captain Jan Tangenes from Eidesvik Offshore.
The vessel incorporates the X-BOW® hull line design to reduce motion in transit and give increased stability in the rough weather that can be expected in the North Sea. Despite this enviable stability, something usually associated with size, this SX148 design from ULSTEIN has been crafted to be compact in stature – measuring ‘just’ 106.5 metres long and 24.5 metres wide.
“This is a fabulous vessel. We are maintaining a service speed of 16 knots in quite rough weather, and we had no trouble with that. The comfort for personnel onboard is very good. This is my first X-BOW® vessel, and I am very pleased. She delivers beyond my expectations so far”, says Tangenes, adding: “I am really impressed by this vessel”.
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