On Thursday July 11th, NAM and shipyard Wagenborg from Delfzijl signed a cooperation agreement. Wagenborg will support NAM’s offshore projects in the North Sea and has commissioned Niestern Sander in Delfzijl to build a ship: the ‘’Walk-to-Work’’ Vessel.
More safe, efficient, effective and productive
The Walk-to-Work vessel will enable NAM to execute work activities on production platforms for offshore gas production more safely, efficiently, effectively and in a more productive manner.
The vessel combines a range of functionalities. The vessel offers space for twenty crew and two shifts to accommodate a total of forty maintenance and service staff. Chemicals can be safely stored, transported and moved to platforms and a crane has been designed to compensate movement, allowing it to move heavy loads. Wells can be re-started by use of a mobile installation.
Walk to work, one hundred miles offshore
The fully integrated Ampelmann-system enables a safe offshore work environment, with waves of up to 2.5 meters. This innovative technology, designed in the Netherlands, allows staff to safely move between vessel and platform: ‘walk to work at sea’.
The vessel can deliver a substantial cost reduction through the efficient employment of both staff and materials. Offshore, the Walk-to-Work vessel delivers value by allowing service and maintenance staff to work on several different platforms on one route. The vessel effectively gives the team a workplace, a storage facility, a hotel and transport.
Employment
The Niestern Sander shipyard in Delfzijl will employ roughly 80 staff for the next 18 months to work on the vessel. In addition to that, a large number of subcontractors and suppliers from the region are involved in the project.
Facts & Figures of the vessel:
Approximately 1,250 tons of steel will be used to build the vessel. Excluding equipment, the vessel weighs 1,250,000 kilos. Roughly 1,000 tons of materials will be built into the vessel.
[mappress] Press release, July 12, 2013