UK: Mojo Maritime Makes Progress on High Flow Installation Vessel

Following the announcement in March 2013 that Mojo Maritime Ltd. was working on the development of their patented High Flow Installation Vessel (HF4), extensive progress has been made.

The substantial amount of time and resources invested by Mojo Maritime Ltd. and their partners has ensured that the project remains on schedule. The basic design is expected to finish in early November and plan approval is now underway.

In parallel with the vessel’s technical development, Mojo Maritime Ltd. are engaging with stakeholders in the marine renewable energy market in order to drive commercialisation of the vessel. Although the HF4 is primarily designed for more efficient and safer marine operations in high tidal flows, the solid capabilities of the vessel have led to increasing interest from other marine renewable energy sectors, including offshore wind. The overall performance of the vessel is directly comparable to an Offshore Construction Vessel (OCV), but at a considerably lower capital cost.

Richard Parkinson, Mojo’s Managing Director, commented “The vessel’s size, performance and manoeuvrability make it an excellent tool for a whole range of offshore tasks including inter-array cable installation, trenching and remedial works in offshore wind farms.”

The vessel has a twin hull configuration powered by 4 Voith Schneider Propellers (VSP). Substantial optimisation has been carried with respect to the hydrodynamics of the twin hulls coupled with the VSP’s, thereby leading to excellent performance. With an overall length of 60 metres, a beam of 28 metres and the incredible amount of power, it is already being referred to as a “Pocket OCV”.

The vessel is being commercially developed to be available in summer 2015 with shipyard tendering and construction planned to commence in the 1st quarter of 2014. Mojo Maritime Ltd. has gathered a highly capable collaboration team consisting of Bauer Renewables (subsea drilling), Voith Turbo Marine Engineering (leading on basic design and supply of VSP’s), DNV (classification) and the University of Exeter (analysis of turbulence and input to DP simulation). The project is also receiving support from the Technology Strategy Board, the UK’s innovation agency, through its Marine Energy – Supporting Array Technologies (MESAT) Programme.

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Press release, September 26, 2013; Image: mojomaritime