Life on board a Walk to work vessel

Originally, the Island Crown was ordered and designed as a platform supply vessel, but during the construction period there was a change in plans. Before delivery in 2013 the vessel was converted to a walk-to-work/IMR vessel, and with accommodation for 100 persons and a permanently installed Uptime gangway, housing and transfer of personnel soon became the main duty for Island Crown. Since delivery more than 6000 gangway connections have been completed with more than 40.000 personnel transfers for this vessel alone!

For the time being Island Crown is on an contract to Siemens on the East Anglia ONE project; a windfarm off the coast of England. 102 Siemens wind mills and infrastructure is to be installed and put into operation by the end of 2020, each producing 7 megawatts. This work comprises accommodation and transfer personnel, either by means of gangway or CTVs (Crew Transfer Vessels) which pick up personnel to transport them to the current locations they are working on.

The wind mill installation vessel “Sea Installer”.

“Currently there is great activity at the wind park where the installation vessel Sea Installer installs the wind turbines while 5-6 construction vessels in addition to ourselves perform different kinds of assignments on the field. There is also 6-8 CTVs in service to transport personnel; two of which are directly connected to us,” says Captain Morten Vebenstad.

A regular day at the field starts with planning the activity together with the company responsible for the logistics, and Island Crown is then assigned wind turbines to transfer personnel to. During the day the vessel sails between the different locations. “Changes are always made to the original plan, but with good cooperation with the client we solve it in a good way,” says the Captain.

Up until mid-September 2019, a total of 6350 gangway connections had been made by Island Crown! Currently, with many CTVs in use on the field, Island Crown does not make use of their full capacity as walk-to-work vessel performing about 40 connections a week. However, the gangway use is increasing! Our most experienced gangway operators have now made 1500 connections.

Life on board

So how is it to live together with external companies on board? For this project, Island Crown houses 32-37 clients at all times. They work two weeks on and two weeks off, with 12 hour shifts when they are on board. For this particular project they all work day shift and among the external crew you will find electricians, painters, crane service team, mechanics and general service teams. In addition a few client representatives have their workplace on board as coordinators, HSE representative and medic. When they are done for the day they usually hang out in their dedicated day rooms watching movies or playing video games, work out in the gym or relax in the sauna.

“Our bridge crew is cooperating closely and have established good communications with Siemens, and we visit each other’s offices frequently to discuss. On deck our crew are responsible for all lifting operations, so our clients are only walking to and from CTV or gangway. Since they have their own recreational areas on board there is not much socializing between the crews on their leisure time, but we see each other at the gym or when food is served,” Captain Vebenstad rounds off.

Feedback from the customer proves that they are satisfied with the vessel and appreciate the good cooperation on board.