Page 47: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 2017)

Bibby WaveMaster 1

Damen’s new class of

Service Operations Vessels

The naming ceremony of the Bibby WaveMaster 1 took place in September, 2017 at the cruise terminal in the Port of Rotterdam in front of more than 125 guests from the U.K.-based Bibby Group, Damen and a range of industry partners. More than 10 mem- bers of the Bibby family attended while the Damen family was represented by Chief Commercial Of? - cer Arnout Damen. Bibby WaveMaster 1 is the ? rst of Damen’s new class of purpose-built Service Op- erations Vessels (SOV) with Walk-to-Work (W2W) capability. The Damen Group identi? ed the need for such a vessel in 2013 following consultations within the offshore renewables industry and launched a re- search program that set out to develop an entirely new concept from the ground up in cooperation with a number of key suppliers. The design that came out of this process combined DP-2 and a new motion- compensated gangway with an innovative hull de- sign, a revolutionary internal layout, and a compre- hensive range of additional innovations designed to increase ef? ciencies and reduce costs.

Damen

RV Kronprins Haakon

Oceanographic Icebreaker

A new oceanographic icebreaker being built for the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) was launched by shipbuilder Fincantieri in Italy earlier this year. The $177 million vessel, RV Kronprins Haakon, due for delivery by the end of 2017, will be owned by the NPI, while the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) will have operational responsibility and the University of Tromsø will be her main user.

The high-tech PC 3 class icebreaker vessel was designed by Rolls-Royce Ma- rine to operate year round in polar waters, providing a high-tech facility for the study of the marine environment. At 100 x 21 m and a gross tonnage of about 9,000 tons, Kronprins Haakon will be able to accommodate 55 people (including research personnel, students and crew) in 38 cabins. Its hangar at the bow will have two helicopters and the unit will be equipped with a ROV, AUV and moon pool, among other high-tech equipment.

Kronprins Haakon will have a cruise speed of 15 knots and will be able to move on independently through ice thick up to one meter and with particular silence requirements to avoid disturbing the sea environment. The ship was built according to criteria ensuring minimum environmental impact and reduced ra- diation of noise underwater, so as to allow studies on ? sh and marine mammals.

She will be able to carry out its oceanographic and hydrographic research activi- ties in any area of operation. Kronprins Haakon will set sail for scienti? c expedi- tions starting in 2018.

Fincantieri www.marinelink.com 47

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