After a tender process, Wagenborg Offshore has signed an agreement for the deployment of a walk-to-work Emergency Response and Rescue Vessel (W2W EERV). An existing platform supply ship, the SK728, will be converted into Wagenborg’s third W2W vessel within twenty weeks at shipyard Royal Niestern Sander in Delfzijl.
Approximately eighty employees will work on the innovative conversion of the ship. Early 2021, the ship will be christened and the name will be revealed, after which it will set to work. The vessel will be operated as a standby and support vessel for inspection and maintenance of unmanned platforms in the southern North Sea.
The SK728 will be equipped with an additional accommodation module for forty people. This accommodation module was installed on 8 December at the quay side of Wagenborg Stevedoring by a cooperation of various Wagenborg companies: mobile cranes of Wagenborg Nedlift and pontoon and tug assistance by Wagenborg Towage. In the upcoming weeks, a motion compensated gangway and a motion compensated crane will also be installed to comply with all requirements.
Fewer helicopter flights
In 2018, Wagenborg also supplied such a vessel after a similar conversion for Shell in the form of the W2W vessel Kasteelborg. Together with “Ship of the year” Kroonborg, they have proved to be very successful in recent years. In addition to efficiency and logistical advantages, the W2W vessels also have a positive effect on the environment by reducing helicopter flights significantly.
