Page 10: of Marine Technology Magazine (October 2012)

News When working in the most ex- treme offshore environments, crews have to be able to rely on the absolute integrity and perfor- mance of their vessels. Ulstein Group has joined forces with GC Rieber Ship-ping to offer the market a new standard in operational security and performance. GC Rieber Shipping, the Norway- based harsh environment shipping spe- cialist, has charged Ulstein with de- veloping a high-capacity subsea vessel based on its SX121 design. This $140m ship, ordered in June 2012, alongside an option for a sister vessel, has been com- missioned in response to strong market desire for offshore construction support vessels (CSVs) for deep and harsh envi- ronments. Alongside state-of-the-art features, equipment and performance Þ gures, the vessel will give GC Rieber Shipping maximum operational availability Ð a vital characteristic for both the company and those chartering the ship. Downtime should be minimized thanks to the Ôop-eration+Õ feature, an evolution of GC Rieber ShippingÕs own Ôfail-to-safeÕ de- sign approach. ÔOperation+Õ allows the vessel to con- $140m Subsea Ship: Cool Under Pressure (Photo: Tony Hall) (Photo: Ulstein Group) (Photo: Ulstein Group) The operational ß ex- ibility of the SX121 design enables the owner to operate in a wider range of market segments. October 201210 MTRMTR #8 (1-17).indd 10MTR #8 (1-17).indd 1010/3/2012 4:12:38 PM10/3/2012 4:12:38 PM