CRC Walrus , a 12-metre amphibious crew transfer vessel (CTV) has completed land and sea trials and is ready to start servicing the 60 MW Scroby Sands wind farm offshore the UK.
RWE, the owner and operator of the Scroby Sands wind farm, will deploy CRC Walrus at the end of this week, Commercial Rib Charter said in a social media post.
Back in March 2022, RWE and Commercial Rib Charter teamed up to build the amphibious CTV to service offshore wind farms in shallow waters. CRC Walrus was built by Diverse Marine.
The CTV has a cargo capacity of one tonne and is capable of transferring ten technicians and two crew to any of the turbines within the array, including on the raised sandbank.
Initially designed to reach four turbines at Scroby Sands which have become stranded by the natural rising tide of the sandbank on which the wind farm was built, the fully seaworthy vessel can also drive on land with its two wheels at the front and one in the back.
The CTV was jointly developed by RWE’s Operations team, Technology & Innovation team, and Commercial Rib Charter, which contracted naval architects Chartwell Marine to carry out the design to the specifications requested.
Watch the vessel’s land and sea trials in the video below: