Leading provider to the UK offshore wind-farm sector, Fastnet Shipping is poised for Irish take-off

Leading Irish marine plant andwind farmsupport vessel operator, Fastnet Shipping Limited, has taken delivery of its third windfarm, survey and dive support vessel, Fastnet Skua, which went straight to work  on a 75 turbine, 270MW windfarm 8 kilometers off the Lincolnshire coast at Skegness.  A fourth sister vessel FastnetPuffin,will be launched and operationalin Q3, 2012 for work in the UK/ European offshore windfarm market.

Fastnet Skua

Based in Waterford, this fifth-generation family company  has more than 50 years experience operating and chartering vessels and marine plant for dredging; harbour and coastal towage; crew transfer; transport and offshore logistics. During the busy summer months, the company would employ up to 30 staff who would be active in the UK and Western Europe in Belgium, France and The Netherlands.

 

“Our staff comprises experienced sea-going personnel (masters; skippers; barge masters and crew; marine contractors and coordinators).  All our personnel are trained to exceed regulatory requirements; training in our industry is pretty intensive, stringent and must be always up to date,” company directors Martin and Trevor O’Hanlon explained to Inshore Ireland.

“We’ve also implemented an integrated quality, environmental and health and safety management system to meet the requirements of ISO9001, ISO14001 and OHSAS18001 and are confident of full certification later this year.”

Fastnet can also provide combifloats, unifloats tugs, pontoons and barges – comprising a 22 vessel strong fleet that can be tailored to meet client’s bespoke requirements.

Background

The company began in the early 1960s providing vessels and undertaking maintenance works in harbours and piers along the southeast coast.  In the early 1980s, Fastnet moved into the dredging market and was involved in large-scale projects throughout Ireland while also trading as an aggregate merchant.

By the end of the decade, Fastnet had upgraded its fleet to include larger trailer suction and aggregate dredgers and was soon consulting in the export market – primarily for land reclamation in Bahrain and the construction market in Portugal and Madeira.

“This was long before land reclamation had even being thought about for major schemes in the Arabian Gulf,” they added.   

On the domestic market however due to a slump in dredging “and the dominance of large conglomerates and the unwillingness of the Irish Government to license aggregate extraction, we diversified to provide towage and marine plant services to an emerging and growing sector,” the O’Hanlon’s explained.  

The fleet

Fastnet currently operates the largest private fleet of tugs within Ireland and provides more than 99.9% of all required towage within Waterford Harbour and along the southeast coast. The company has six different tugs, ranging in size from 5-45 ton bollard pull.

In 2010 the company entered the offshore windfarm/turbine transfer market when it took delivery of two bespoke vessels: Fastnet Swift and Fastnet Tern for work in the UK.

“The vessels were very well received by our clients – so much so we’ve ordered two further vessels from Blyth Workcats, the fourth of which we’ll be launching later this year.”

Internal and external layout is designed with passenger comfort and safety in mind without losing performance or durability.

“All of these vessels are built to exceed certification requirements by the Marine Survey Office (MSO) in Ireland and the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) in the UK,” they added.

Projects

To date, Fastnet’s involvement in the offshore renewable energy sector has included operating and chartering various vessels on projects that include: Barrow Offshore Windfarm; Arklow Banks; the Kish Bray and Codling Windpark; Robin Rigg; Sheringham Shoal; Greater Gabbard; The Galloper; London Array, Lincolnshire Offshore.

“But that’s just the beginning. We’re open to investing in innovative ideas to provide a broad service range to existing and new clients,” the O’Hanlons explained.

Fastnet is also the largest independent operator of jack-up barges – both modular and mono hull in Ireland – and is the only operator of Voith Schneider bed levelling tugs in Ireland.

“These tugs offer clients unrivalled maneuverability and very high production rates when compared to conventional units,” he explained.

Typical projects would include: piling, pier/marina construction; over-water drilling and blasting or site investigations; offshore windfarms; bridges; outfalls, cable conduits and pipeline installations. Other activities include overwater horizontal directional drilling; cable conduit installation; outfall installation and navigation beacon installation.

Despite the current economic climate, Fastnet is confident of a bright future and since 2007 has seen year-on-year and above-average growth.

“The marine sector is in a growth phase. We’re fully committed to growth in the offshore renewables market in Irish waters by investing in new, bespoke service vessels and workboats, providing jobs and training – and broadening our skill and knowledgebase.

“We anticipate that our forward thinking and advance investment will put us in the excellent position of being able offer and provide each and every potential investor who enters this sector with highly experienced crews and proven vessels from a company with a proven track record,” the O’Hanlons explained.

Fastnet Skua isa 12-passenger bespoke 14mx5m multi-role vessel, powered by twinCumminsQSC 8.3 500hp engines which reached 28knots duringsea trials.

Statistics:

LOA: 14 m
Beam: 5.0 m
Draft: 1.0m
Propulsion: Fixed props 
Generator: 6kw Diesel A/C Generator +3.5kw Inverter

Fuel Capacity: 900 Gallons

The bridge:

$1·        2 x SIMRAD LVR880–FixedDSCVHFs–Bothwithload hailersandfoghorns.(Independent GMDSSinstallations)

$1·        1 xICOM M505–FixedDSC VHF (IndependentGMDSSinstallations)

$1·        2 xICOMM33 HandheldWaterproofVHFs

$1·        1x Simrad 6kw Open Array Radar,

$1·        1 x4kwSIMRAD 3GRadome

$1·        2 x SimradNSOMultifunctionChart Plotters,

$1·        1x Simrad 0.6kwStandardDual FrequencySounder / Transducer,

$1·        1x Simrad1kwStructureSidescan Sonar /Sounder / Transducer,

$1·        1x Simrad AP35Autopilot,

$1·        1x SimradIS20Wind Sensor + Display,

$1·        1x SimradIMOClassAAIS Navigation System,

$1·        SimradMX575SatelliteCompass, SimradStandaloneIMOGPS System

$1·        Sea MarshallSARfinder 1003 MkII MOB locating unit

$1·        Full Vessel CCTVSystem

$1·        750mm x750mmmoon pool , gas suspensionseatingfor all passengers,

$1·         A proven andinterchangeable turbine nosefender dockingconnectionandhydraulicpowerpack

$1·        Fastnet Skua canalso carry upto3000kgsof cargoand haslargeforwardandaft cargoandlaydownareas.