New, Innovative Trimaran Crew Transfer Vessel Provides Safer Transfers (Finland)

Mobimar Ltd. delivers its first trimaran crew transfer vessel to Meriaura Ltd. in March next year. The unique trimaran vessel Mobimar 18 Wind challenges current practices by making the offshore wind farms accessible for 96 more days per year, which greatly improves the profitability.

When the significant wave height reaches over 1,5 m out at the wind farms, most of the currently used vessels don’t leave the harbour due to the potentially dangerous disembarkation at the turbines.

Mobimar 18 Wind crew transfer vessel makes an exception. Thanks to its three slim hulls, it operates safely and remains stable also in harsh weather conditions. The cabin is comfortable, with a low noise level and seats for 12 passengers.

– The Mobimar 18 Wind truly meets the demands of the wind farm industry. It is classified to seastate 4.0 Hs , and provides safe transfers for service engineers in significant wave heights up to 2,5 m, says Pauli Immonen, Managing Director of Mobimar Ltd.

To prevent hazardous situations at the wind turbine and enable a safe disembarkation, Mobimar invented a unique, intelligent gripper system in the bow. While others have to push with full throttle against the wind turbine structure to stay put, this vessel can approach the turbine from either side and run idle during disembarkation. The hydraulics keep the landing platform in position and the water jets in the side hulls make the vessel easily maneuvered. The Mobimar 18 Wind trimaran vessel is also much less sensitive for rolling and slamming than monohulls and catamarans.

The slim hulls offer less water resistance, which leads to lower fuel consumption. This is emphasized by the fact that while the CTV trimaran has one main engine rating to 750 kw, a catamaran has two similar engines. Together these features reduce the fuel consumption costs by more than 200 € per hour.

The innovative Mobimar 18 Wind has undergone extensive model tests at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. The vessel measures 18 m in length, the beam is 8,5 m and the work deck is much bigger than the deck of a monohull. The large deck space can be used for transport of maintenance equipment and as a workspace for work that cannot be carried out at the wind turbines. Mobimar 18 Wind is designed and built by Mobimar Ltd. in Turku, Finland and will be classed by Bureau Veritas, DNV or equivalent.

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Offshore WIND staff, November 21, 2011; Image: mobimar