STX Europe built an environment friendly platform supply vessel (PSV) called North Purpose, for Gulf Offshore at the Soviknes yard in Norway. The vessel was delivered in February 2010.
In March 2007, Gulf Offshore awarded a NKr530m ($86.8m) contract to Aker Yards (now STX Europe) for the construction of two PSVs. The first vessel was delivered in 2009.
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The keel of the second vessel, North Purpose, was laid in November 2008. The hull was built at STX Europe’s yard in Romania, and the outfitting was carried out in Norway. The vessel was launched in July 2009.
Design of North Purpose
North Purpose is an STX 09 CD PSV design developed by STX Europe after years of research and development. The design was developed with the objective of improving performance, reducing environmental impact and raising profitability.
The vessel was designed to carry general cargo for the offshore industry in all weather conditions worldwide.
The main design features of North Purpose include low resistance hull lines for speed and low fuel consumption, good seakeeping performance, a dynamic position system, a tank cleaning system for mud / brine tanks, an enclosed forecastle deck and low loss concept drives.
A selective catalytic reduction system helps to minimise NOx and SOx emissions.
The tank washing system includes a fixed tank washing system in all mud tanks, an Alfa Laval Aldec Decanter, 360° tank washing machines, a dedicated 24m³ slop tank and a hot / cold wash with or without chemicals.
The 4,836t vessel has an overall length of 86.6m, a moulded breadth of 19m and a maximum draught of 5.9m. Its gross register tonnage is 3,639t, while its net register tonnage is 1,187t.
A total of 26 crew members can be accommodated onboard North Purpose. There are ten one-man cabins and eight two-men cabins.
Cargo capacity
North Purpose has a deck area of 1,000m², with a deck load capacity of 2,700t. Its tank capacity for fuel oil is 1,038m³, potable water is 1,175m³, drill water is 4,225m³, oil-based mud is 709m³ and brine is 1,075m³.
A total of 9,351m³ of dry bulk can be contained in six tanks. Fuel oil can be discharged at the rate of 250m³ per hour, pot water at 250m³ per hour, oil-based mud at 150m³ per hour, base oil at 100m³ per hour, brine at 150m³ per hour, cement at 80t per hour, barytes at 60t per hour, bentonite at 100t per hour, methanol at two x 75m³ per hour and drill water at 150m³ per hour.
North Purpose propulsion
North Purpose has a diesel electric power plant with a power generating capacity of 10,738BHP and propulsive power of 5,867BHP. It is powered by four Caterpillar main generators, each capable of generating 1,901kW. There is also a 450kW capacity auxiliary generator and a 104kW capacity emergency generator.
Propulsion is provided by two azipull controllable pitch propellers. Two tunnel bow thrusters are fitted to achieve maximum manoeuvrability.
Equipment
North Purpose is equipped with two deck cranes. The first crane has a lifting capacity of 5t at 10m outreach, and the second crane has a lifting capacity of 1t at 10m outreach. The vessel is also fitted with two tugger winches, each with a 10t capacity.
In order to automatically maintain its position and heading, the vessel is fitted with Kongsberg Simrad’s K-Pos 21 dynamic positioning system (DPS) guided by a fan beam receiver and two differential global positioning system (DGPS) receivers.
Other manoeuvring equipment include two rotating variable speed stern azipull propellers and a Kongsberg C-Joy Joystick.
Navigation equipment includes one 10cm ARPA radar, a 3cm radar, a Satellite Navigator GP 90, a DGPS / GP-90 inbuilt navigator, a 9GHz radar transponder, an autopilot, an echo sounder FE-700, a Doppler speed log DS80, a FA150 automatic identification system system, a Telchart Electronic Chart system and AIS interface, a Universal Signal Unit and three GC80 gyro compasses.
The vessel’s communication equipment comprises three GMDSS VHFs, four Motorola GP 340 portable UHF, two fixed GM360 UHF radios, one MF / HF SSB Radio station, two VHF with built-in DSC, one FM 2721 simplex VHF, Navtex receiver, a Weather Fax, a Ships Security Alert System, a GSM / GPRS cellular phone and a KU Band Sat Comms system.
