Harvey Gulf chooses ABS to class first ‘tri-fueled’ OSV

American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has been selected to class two dual-fuel offshore supply vessels (OSV) being retrofitted with a battery/converter system by Harvey Gulf International Marine.

ABS said on Thursday that the Harvey Energy would become the first ABS-classed dual-fuel and battery powered vessel and the first U.S. flagged OSV equipped with a battery/converter system.

The classification society added that Harvey Energy would practically become the first classed ‘tri-fueled’ vessel for Harvey Gulf since it is powered by LNG, diesel, and batteries.

The other vessel, the Harvey Supporter, will become the second vessel in the Harvey Gulf fleet to have a battery power system.

According to the company, the battery installation, which is expected to achieve the ABS class notation ESS-LiBATTERY, will significantly enhance the efficiency and environmental performance of the vessel.

Matt Tremblay, ABS SVP for Global Offshore, said: “[…] we are proud to be involved in another project driving the sustainable development of the industry. The project will effectively create tri-fueled vessels with significant potential to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.”

Shane Guidry, chairman and CEO of Harvey Gulf, added: “We chose ABS due to its significant experience in LNG and dual fuel energy. We are pleased to add them to our project team, which is committed to delivering the best emissions and fuel savings technologies to our customers, our country and our industry.”

The installation of a 1,450 kW battery hybrid solution is anticipated to reduce Harvey Energy’s exhaust emissions, fuel consumption, and noise level.

The overall fuel cost savings are expected to be in the range of 10 to 20 percent, according to Harvey Gulf.

The battery capacity will be sufficient to sail in and out of harbor on electric power with fewer engines running, while also supplementing hotel load electricity when docked, which would reduce noise and pollution levels in the harbor area.

Furthermore, the ability to operate on battery power will assist redundancy during critical dynamic positioning (DP) operations at the offshore platform.