Posted on August 25, 2020
An early hand-over to German operators was being predicted in August for Atair – billed as Europe’s first government-owned LNG-fuelled survey, wreck location and research ship, writes Tom Todd.
Wiebke Rabe, a spokeswoman for builders Fassmer Werft on the Weser, told Maritime Journal the delivery of the 75m x 16.8m Atair was “expected by the end of August” to the BSH – Germany’s Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency.
The newbuild has just completed an extended final series of sea-trials in the German Bight and waters off the Faroes and Norway. BSH spokeswoman Susanne Kehrhahn-Eyrich had earlier tipped a possible delay in delivery –originally due earlier this year – because of Corona-related problems. She told Maritime Journal the lengthy sea-trials had “involved companies from abroad whose employees had to return to their home countries after becoming aware of the dangers posed by the virus”.
Detailing some of the final work on the state-of-the-art, €113.8 million Atair during its final trials Kehrhahn-Eyrich said a first stage had involved testing hydrographic equipment such as sonar, echo-sounding, positioning and CTD sensors as well as data transmission function checks.
In a further stage, new scientific winch and lifting gear with rosette and deep water samplers had been tested in depths of around 2000m. Finally underwater sound measurements had been taken to confirm Silent R class notation.
“The equipment trials went well”, reported Kehrhahn-Eyrich. She added that minor propulsion and drive equipment defects were being rectified at Fassmer prior to hand-over.
The construction of the complex Atair has been a tall-order since it was ordered in 2016 to replace a still-serving namesake. A further technological challenge has been the decision to change initially stipulated diesel-electric propulsion to diesel-LNG-electric drive. Atair has two Wärtsilä 20DFand one Wärtsilä 6L20 engines developing max.13 knots as well as Schottel STT bow and stern thrusters.
The latest Atair developments come just after the conversion by the German Government of an option with Abeking and Rasmussen for a third 95m LNG- fuelled multi-purpose emergency response and pollution control ship. Together worth some €600 million they are for delivery up to 2025 to replace smaller old ships in the North Sea and Baltic, They will have LNG-electric propulsion developed by RRPS and based on gas-shielded Bergen B36:456AG engines.
Source: maritimejournal
