36 | ANCHOR-HANDLING TUG/SUPPLY VESSELS
MODIFIED DELIVERY SCHEDULE FOR AHTS SERIES REFLECTS CHANGED MARKET REALITY Maersk Supply Service’s new anchor handlers are very high-spec ships, but the downturn in the industry means it doesn’t need all of them in service as early as originally planned
K
leven Verft in Norway has now delivered the first two of Maersk Supply Service’s sophisticated and extremely powerful Starfish-class anchor-handling tug/supply (AHTS) vessels, Maersk Master and Maersk Mariner. The first of the Salt 200 design AHTS vessels commenced a maiden work scope being utilised by Maersk Oil on the Janice and Leadon decommissioning projects in the UK sector of the North Sea. The second departed Norwegian waters en route for Australia for acharter with Woodside Energy. The company signed a newbuilding contract for six examples of the Starfishclass ships with Kleven Maritime in Norway in 2014, shortly before the steep fall in the oil price and the subsequent recession in the offshore oil and gas industry. The vessels are being built with
a total budget that exceeds US$0.5Bn. Construction of each vessel takes around 18 months from steel cutting to delivery. Potential customers for their services are international oil companies and construction companies worldwide. Built for deepwater operations, the Starfish vessels are designed for maximum reliability, safety and uptime and have a length of 95 m and beam of 25 m. There are several innovative features on the Starfish-class vessels, including an anchorrecovery frame that simplifies operations over the stern roller and a remotely operated deck-handling gantry crane. A hybrid propulsion solution makes it possible to select the optimal operating mode for the task at hand. They have been assigned Lloyd’s Register (LR) class notations 100A1, Offshore Supply Ship AHTS, Fire
The Starfish-class was designed with an emphasis on safe operations in deepwater and has a range of innovative anchor-handling gear
Offshore Support Journal | October 2017, Annual Review
Fighting Ship 1 (2400), Ice Class 1A PS, RD (2.8), *IWS. “The Starfish vessels are unlike any other anchor handlers currently on the market,” said says Peter Kragh Jacobsen, head of newbuildings at Maersk Supply Service. “They are premium assets that are second to none in terms of operational reliability, onboard safety and comfort and client offerings. The vessels were developed based on how best to provide value to our customers.” Powered by five medium-speed engines with total output of more than 23,000 hp, they have a fuel-efficient and flexible hybrid propulsion system and fixed-pitch thrusters, a combination of features that should provide high reliability, good fuel economy, low emissions and excellent station-keeping capabilities. “In our newbuilding project with Kleven, we have carefully designed the vessel for maximum flexibility and lowest possible operational costs,” said Søren Karas, the company’s chief operating officer at the time. “Customer feedback has been positive, and we believe that the vessels will play a role in enabling the industry to derive much-needed gains in efficiency.” Also designed for safe deck operations, the vessels are equipped with a multideck handler system, anchor recovery frame, gypsy reel-handling system and other equipment that will enhance operability and safety. Among the key features of the vessels highlighted by Maersk Supply Service are an environmental regularity number (ERN) of 99.99.99.99, a 230-tonne bollard pull, covered deck areas of 838 m2 and 102 m2, a 450-tonne drum anchor-handling winch and 500-tonne double drum towing winches, two 170-tonne secondary winches,
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