Posted on November 29, 2022
The Walk to Work Seminar 2022 this year was held in Aberdeen at the Aberdeen Art Gallery. After a two-year hiatus due to the global pandemic, Ampelmann was enthusiastic and eager to bring back this event that brings together some of the biggest names in offshore work together again. This year’s W2W Seminar featured networking opportunities, presentations and a panel discussion from experts from Health & Safety Executive, Clarsksons Offshore and Renewables, Royal Wagenborg, Cierco Energy, American Bureau of Shipping, Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, OceanXpress, and Walk to Work Solutions. The attendees were given insights and a look into the future of offshore work with many takeaways. Here’s a recap of what was discussed and shared at this year’s W2W Seminar:
W2W Solutions – W2W Why now? Chris Allsop from Walk to Work Solutions provided excellent insights into the importance of the planning stage of a W2W campaign. He expanded upon the importance of planning by also suggesting a proper process is in place to be able to deliver the best ROI, safety, and efficiency for clients. Allsop also mentioned that it’s become more common to see W2W vessels supporting other offshore industries such as renewable energy sector. But how can one have the optimum ‘W2W’ solution? The key is to have an experienced W2W Project Team, W2W Vessel, and gangway combination plus an experienced W2W Delivery Team .
IMCA M-254 – Guidelines for W2W Operations Maarten de Wit, Manager of Continuous Improvement at Ampelmann discussed the IMCA M-254 Guidelines for W2W Operations. The IMCA M-254 is intended as a recommended practice and a starting point in the industry. This guideline provides a standard reference covering Walk to Work motion compensated gangway operations for the offshore energy industry and the most recent edition includes 5 appendices which cover, amongst others: o Emergency protocols o Framework HAZID/safety case o Operator training o Safety reports o Outline for workability analysis
Clarksons – C/SOV Market Update and Outlook Shipbroker, Tim Börner, shared the C/SOV Market Update and Outlook from Clarksons perspective. Börner shared that though there is a limited supply of charters, these charters need to make their campaigns more attractive to owners. Many charterers are still basing their budgets on the assumptions of daily rates, which, realistically, are no longer achievable. The longer-term charters in most cases are concluded at lower day rates, which can help to reduce overall logistics costs if the vessel can be fully utilized. For example, in the O&G market, longer term charters without fully secured utilitsation backing are relatively common. Börner also mentioned that in a market that is expected to be undersupplied for the coming years, access to CSOV capacity may not always be easy. Nevertheless, with more purpose-built tonnage and technological progress being initiated in many fields, vessels can increase their overall passenger comfort and push the working limits. For example, installation work is concluded year-round, but O&M scopes are still being performed only in the summer months. Therefore, a full year vessel utilization could help ease the budget and availability squeeze.
Royal Wagenborg – Challenges & Opportunities of a Vessel Owner during the Energy Transition Paul Bakker, Manager of Business Development at Royal Wagenborg presented what challenges and opportunities vessel owners could be facing during the current energy transition . He mentioned that due to high inflation costs, the cost of crew and technical maintenance increases. It is important to ensure that vessel owners retain the right personnel and keep a good stock of spare parts because of this. This inflation also leads to uncertainty in terms of price development and the future availability of future fuels and CO2 tax, for example. The energy transition increases uncertainty for the residual value of vessel, therefore working closely with clients to optimize design, financing and operations can help.
Health and Safety Executive – UK Health and Safety Law and How It is Applied to W2W Operations in Offshore Oil and Gas and Renewable Projects Paul Young, HSE Specialist at Health & Safety Executive gave an excellent overview of the enforcing agencies and of UK Health and Safety Law that are in place in the UK. HSE is continuously looking at ways to standardize their approach to Walk-to-Work operations across both industry sectors. The principles that are in place for UK Health and Safety Law are the same for renewables and oil and gas industry.
OceanXpress Maichel van NautaLemke, Business Development Europe at Ampelmann, is the Commercial Manage at OceanXpress. OceanXpress is a joint venture between Ampelmann and Damen that developed and operates the FCS7011 Aqua Helix with more potential in the future. When looking into the future of crew change OceanXpress looked to create a new solution rather than simply a vessel, something which can add value to both the Oil and Gas and the renewables industry. The vessel is a medium cost, long range and high comfort vessel for crew changes as well as can reduce project costs, increase safety, improve comfort, and increase resilience. The vessels home port is in Den Helder, The Netherlands and features 4 integrated solutions: o Ampelmann S-type gangway o VEEM VG1000 gyro stabilizer o Damen 7011 Fast Crew Supplier o Kongsberg DP system
Panel Discussion – Floating Offshore Wind The W2W Seminar also featured panel discussion featuring Sean Snee of Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, Iain Nuttall of American Bureau of Shipping, Alex Gauntt of Cierco Energy and led by Jaap Lelieveld of Ampelmann. They discussed the trending topic of Floating Offshore Wind (FOW) and what benefits and challenges the future of FOW could present. The panel discussed that to meet targets, one FOW unit must be delivered every week which is unrealistic with current supply chain and project progress. Though this challenge may present itself, the panel also discussed what supply chain would have to do now to make FOW a success and they concluded that it’s best to not reinvent the wheel, especially in an area like Aberdeen: there is an immense energy hub with 60 years of technology excellent, so there is no need to reinvent the wheel if many floating infrastructure challenges have already been addressed in the Oil &Gas sector.
Also, part of the discussion focused on the northeast of Scotland, which has a lot of to do to prepare itself for the upcoming demands of fabrication and deployment. This is not only going to affect supply change, but also in terms of resources, harbours, onshore logistics, manpower and council engagement. This is an area that needs investment to help sustain them.
