X-STERN™ has been nominated as one of the top four candidates for the Next Generation Ship Award.
The Next Generation Ship Award recognizes achievements in innovative ship designs. The winner will be announced at the Nor-Shipping Opening Conference in June.
The X-STERN, having much of the same characteristics as the X-BOW, can stay in position in harsh weather with the stern towards waves, wind and current. Its gentle displacement reduces acceleration, pitch and heave. There will be no sea on deck due to the stern shape and enclosed nature of the aft deck, and increased safety for crew, cargo and equipment, and the aft working sector increases. After having been introduced in Q3 2014, the first two design and shipbuilding contracts for X-STERN vessels were signed for the sustainable wind energy market, for delivery to Bernhard Schulte. The vessels will be servicing offshore wind installations for Siemens.
“Delivery schedule reliability was our number one priority when choosing the ship yard. They have a solid reputation, not only on keeping to delivery schedules, but also of delivering innovative vessels of high quality,” says Matthias Müller, Business Development Director at Bernhard Schulte.
An offshore wind service vessel’s most important task is to stay positioned on DP close to the turbines, with as little movements as possible, in order to provide a safe transfer for the technicians from the vessel through a heave compensated gangway to the turbines. The vessel can operate with stern (X-STERN) or front (X-BOW) towards wind, waves and current, increasing the operational window.