UK: OSV North Sea Giant Wins ‘Ship of the Year 2012’ Award

The offshore supply vessel North Sea Giant was given the Offshore Support Journal “Ship of the Year 2012” award. The vessel of Norwegian operator North Sea Shipping AS received this prestigious prize during the Offshore Support Vessel Conference in London. North Sea Giant is one of the largest and most powerful offshore supply vessels equipped with Voith Schneider Propellers (VSP) as the main propulsion system. The prestigious award was given to owners of the vessel “North Sea Shipping” designers “Sawicon” and Builders “Metalships and Docks”

Offshore construction vessels (OCV) are multi-purpose vessels, used particularly by the oil and gas industry. They are at home on all oceans of the world. The North Sea Giant is 161 meters long, 30 meters wide and fully equipped for long-term operation at sea. With her two cranes, she is one of the biggest and most advanced vessels of this type ever built. The giant vessel is driven by five Voith Schneider Propellers.

In high seas, the extremely fast and precise propeller control system allows the North Sea Giant to be kept safely and accurately on position. This is ensured by the dynamic positioning system (DP3), which uses the VSP thrust forces, as well as by the Voith Roll Stabilization (VRS). The propellers ensure precise control, a high degree of propulsion efficiency and low fuel consumption, even in adverse weather and current conditions. The robustness and reliability which result in minimum downtimes and extremely low service costs are further advantages. These characteristics are required for applications such as the installation of ever bigger platforms, working in depths of up to 3 000 meters, for the construction of extraction units as well as for pipe laying, cable laying or for the installation of tidal current turbines.

North Sea Giant has been in service since June 2011. She has a load carrying capacity of 14 200 tons and can accommodate up to 199 crew members.

Voith Turbo, the specialist for hydrodynamic drive, coupling and braking systems for road, rail and industrial applications, as well as for ship propulsion systems, is a Group Division of Voith GmbH. Voith sets standards in the markets energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transportation & automotive. Founded in 1867, Voith employs more than 40 000 people, generates €5.6 billion in sales, operates in over 50 countries around the world and is today one of the biggest family-owned companies in Europe.

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Source: voith, March 8, 2012; Images: northsea