German propulsion company, SCHOTTEL has been awarded a contract to supply Dutch Royal Niestern Sander with thrusters concerning world’s first shallow-draught icebreaking vessel.
In fact, the Dutch shipyard is now building the 75.9-metre-long and 14-metre-wide walk-to-work vessel commissioned by a joint venture among the Russian companies Mercury Sakhalin and Pola.
What is more, the initiative is considered to be the world’s first shallow-draught ice-breaking walk-to-work vessel.
Following its delivery in December 2021, Mercury Sakhalin will operate the icebreaker on the east coast of Sakhalin Island for the offshore oil and gas industry.
For the records, the vessel is specially designed and optimized for year-round operations in the challenging conditions on the east coast of Sakhalin in temperatures ranging from -30 to +35 degrees Celsius.
Namely, it combines a shallow draught of 3.15 metres, a transit draught of 4 metres in open waters and can break through ice up to 100 centimetres.
In addition to efficiency and reliability, the most important requirement of thrusters on walk-to-work vessels is precise manoeuvrability. SCHOTTEL has already proven the performance of their propulsion units on several other walk-to-work vessels.
…Maxim Anatolievich Petrov, General Manager at OOO Mercury Sakhalin noted.
Concluding, the vessel will perform year-round crew transfer services from the shallow Nabil Port to offshore platforms near the east coast of Sakhalin. Beyond this, it can be deployed for oil spill response services.
