Bluefort Puts New Boat Landing to Use

Bridgemans Services Group’s floatel MV Bluefort has been fitted with a new boat landing facility that is said to be capable of transferring up to 150 turbine technicians into the field each day.

Workers staying onboard the 142 metre MV Bluefort can get onto crew transfer vessels and out to turbines in record time following the construction of a specially-designed landing that caters for at least six different types of CTVs, the Canadian company said.

With a personnel transfer rate of 15 seconds per person, the new boat landing means the bottleneck that is familiar on service operations vessels has been removed. Offering accommodation for up to 200 offshore workers, the vessel can send crews out to install, commission or service as many as 25 turbines per day.

MV Bluefort has bow and stern thrusters that increase its capabilities in tough offshore conditions, enabling it to remain steady at anchor in seas with up to 6-metre significant wave height and within project health, safety and environment guidelines.

BSG President Brian Grange said the company put a huge effort into redesigning the vessel’s boat landing following research, tests and feedback from clients and it was incorporated into a package of upgrade works that totalled EUR 6 million.

“We wanted to make sure that Bluefort was the most efficient option for today’s wind farm developments but was also future-proofed for the coming projects that are further from shore and in deeper waters,” Grange said.

“We have ensured it can adapt to the next generation of larger crew transfer vessels that will be able to operate in seas of 2.5 metres and above.”

MV Bluefort is currently providing a home for workers commissioning the turbines at the 350MW Iberdrola-owned Wikinger offshore wind farm located 30 kilometres north-east of the German island of Rugen.