“Olympic Hercules”
Ulstein's first bet

She is a display of raw force, a martial-looking vessel of 82 meters packed with power; either lowlying for a bollard pull of 270 tons, or flying free at 19 knots. This is the new Ulstein A101.

The Ulstein name is of course well-known for its series of UT-designs, of which more than 300 offshore vessels have been built since the mid-70s.
But the UT-design team and portfolio went together with the technology sector to Vickers in December 1998 and on to Rolls-Royce. The sale left the Ulstein family with the Ulstein shipyard, and they consequently decided to develop a new design line.
The first order for the A101 design was reported in June 2000 when Olympic Shipping signed the 300-million NOK contract.
By the time this order was delivered, the shipyard had booked another four of the Ulstein-series at a total value of NOK 1.6 billion (USD 183 million).
The new Ulstein design line is aimed at oil work in deeper waters; the A101 as a powerful anchorhandler and the P103 as a multifunctional vessel for deepwater survey or construction – ready for inclusion of moonpool, cranes, extra accommodation, helipad, etc.
Building on the yard’s 25 years experience with offshore vessels, the new hull design has been refined in tank testing, but is also based on the Ulstein concept of modular construction, of which more can be read on page 61.

Multifunctional
The A101 has been designed for the following tasks:
laying and handling of anchors and mooring lines for floating rigs
towage of rigs
handling and installation of subsea modules and equipment
trenching on seabed for pipelines
good supply capability
good manoevrability and high bollard pull.

Packing all these virtues into a supply ship has meant a quite compact vessel, with a large propulsion plant, cargo tanks, a wide cargo deck and the accommodation block forward. The set of towing and anchorhandling drums is placed in a hangar to the fore end of the deck.
Most of the equipment comes from the Rolls-Royce inventory, like propellers, thrusters, winches and deck machinery. The engine installation is four 9-cylinder Wärtsila engines with a total rating of 17,280 kW, or 23,000 bhp.
For towing is it essential to have the vessel ballasted down to attain a bollard pull of 270 tonnes. At trials, in a light condition, the vessel easily exceeded 19 knots. This is quite impressive for an AHTS, but the Ulstein-designed vessels have always been renowned for sleek hulls.
Olympic Shipping, located in the fishing village of Fosnavåg on the island of Leinøy to the west of Ålesund, is owned by Stig Remøy, whose background is in the fishing industry, pretty much like everyone else on the island. Various branches of the Remøy family are involved in fishing and offshore companies.
Olympic Shipping acquired its first supply vessel in 1994 and operates today a fleet of five, in addition to three on order, including another A101. There is also a trawler in the fleet, ”Olympic Prawn” fishing in Greenland waters and the Barend’s Sea.
Next in line from Ulstein Verft is a multifunctional DP3 ROV vessel, the P103 design, to be delivered to Solstad Offshore in June.

//Dag Bakka Jr

 

 

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