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January: A Big Ship - Info about the new K Line anchor-handler. Weighty Matters – The weight of offshore people in lifeboats. Piracy Update – Korean commandoes at work. Workiing On – working past retirement age. The Seawind Project – a supership for the wind industry.
February: The Carnival Splendour Fire –The investigation report. Cougar Flight 91 – a helicopter crash at Hibernia. The Mel Oliver Collision – A Mississippi misfortune. The Deepwater Horizon and Human Factors – the various reports are out. A Further Piracy Update – Remember the Korean attack, the pirates are fighting back.
March. The Bourbon Liberty Class – four berth cabins. Videos – The SBS Typhoon accident. Nuclear Matters – Worries about Russian submarines. More Bad News – A Tanzaninia registered tug detained. Fake Emergency Escape Breathing Devices – just what it says.
April. Marine Safety Forum Safety Flashes – The Bibby Topaz in Lerwick. Tax Relief For Seafarers – Why some ships aren’t ships. The IMO Message – a message to the iMO about registries. The Global Call to Combat Pirate Risks – what protection is out there. And Good News for a Very Few – A safety bonus paid to Transocean directors.
May. A Captain Goes Home – Jan Plug returns to Ijmuiden. The MSC Opera – cruise ship problems. An Allision – The use of the actual word. The Night Navigator – a thermal imaging device to replace radar. Pirates Again – an update on this problem.
June. Here’s The Ocean Guardian – The rig in the Falklands. The White List – More about doubtful registries. A Presentation – static tow at the Griffon FPSO. Acetelyne in Falmouth – why these bottles blow up. The Tunisian Refugee Problem – boat people losing their lives in the Med.
August. Back in the Groove – The Aberdeen webcam. Who Should be In Charge – on a mobile unit. Marine Investigations – failure of some registries, again. UK Emergency Towing Vessels – where the government is failing. The Gannet Oil Spill – its not very big!
September. Fairmount Expedition Rescue – For and against the removal of the ETVs. The 9/11 Effect – are all seafarers terrorists? The Chandlers – yachtmen held for ransome. The Bear Island Wreck – A Russian wreck in the far north. A Reunion – Smit-Lloyd are haivng a reunion. Warsash Lake – shiphandling in miniature.
October. The Rena – acontainer ship runs aground in New Zealand. The Mermaid Vigilance – what happened to the Trident II crew. The Carriage of Sponge Rubber – not a cargo you would want to carry. Shetland VTS gaps – memory lane in Yell Sound. Learning - I am learning Spanish.
November. Rebecca Coriam – A young woman disappeared from Disney Wonder. The Damen PSVs – with the Axe bow. The Loss of the Koosha I – a diving ship lost in the Arabian Gulf. The Scottish ETVs – Emergency Towing Vessels go. The Iceberg I – the crew as hostages.
December. Rigmoves - Something about my first work of fiction. The Mermaid Vigilance – and the Trident II misfortune. The Onedin Line – about today’s shipowners. The Work Time Directive – offshore work time compared. Barometric Pressure – Low pressures in adverse weather.
In the development of the European supply vessel it is not possible to ignore Ulstein, and the progress of the UT designs, or as we are finding out, the input of Maersk Supply who have been equally innovative in their approach to the operation of offshore vessels. So as the terrible effect of the 1985 oil crash was coming to an end, Maersk commissioned Ulstein to develop the UT 745. It was an enhanced version of the 705 and was a platform ship apparently capable of doing everything. The owners claimed that it could remain within the range of an offshore crane in 50 knot winds, and since most offshore cranes were required to shut down at 45 knots, this claim suggested that there were no conditions in which the vessel type could not operate. To achieve this stunning performance 4000 of its 7200 bhp could be channelled to its transverse thrusters. Interestingly this would seem to transfer the responsibility for operations in “marginal” conditions from the captain of the ship to the senior person on the rig or platform. So no longer would the captain be asked whether he would be prepared to go to work; if asked he would say yes, and the ship would close up with the object no matter what the weather. But would the OIM really want a 4500 tonne ship alongside in 45 knots of wind? Maersk also claimed that the UT 745 was able to pump liquids at 250 tonnes per hour and cement at 100 tonnes per hour, both delivery rates which would tax the pipework of many offshore installations. The first UT 745, the Maersk Fighter entered service in May 1992 to be followed by the Maersk Forwarder and the Maersk Frontier in the same year and the Feeder in 1993 (photographed offshore by the author in 2007) and by two further ships, the last, the Maersk Fetcher, entering service in 1995, all built at Ulsteinvik. Other owners also placed orders at other Norwegian yards for the type. Farstad built four between 1995 and 1999, Trico built five between 1994 and 2002 one of which was the Northern Gambler and Gulf Offshore built three between 1998 and 2002, which appears to be the last year in which the type was built. Of the original six Maersk ships the Maersk Fetcher was sold to Far Eastern buyers in 2014 and is now the Han Ji 2, the Finder was sold in 2016 and is now the Koray Bey, the Forwarder, Feeder and the Fighter were sold outside the offshore industry in late 2016. And surprisingly the Maersk Frontier, now 25 years old has just been awarded a year’s charter supporting the Gryphon FPSO.
As the era of the UT 704 drew to a close, a few Ulstein designed anchor-handlers retained its DNA. Back in 1983 Star Offshore had the Ulstein design house produce was was billed as a UT 704 MkIII, the Star Polaris and then went on to order a couple of UT 734s. It so happened that in 1983 (a bit of a personal story here) I was master of the Star Polaris and the owners asked the Chief Engineer and I to come up with a new layout for the bridge. So we got to work and measured up all the buttons, switches and dials with which the ship was equipped and drew up an alternative layout, using less of the available space. As an aside I also proposed modifications to the joystick, suggesting that we needed an X/Y axis readout and a Low Gain facility to reduce the sensitivity when going ahead and astern. And for good measure I proposed that the driver should be able to choose the point of rotation, just as we were used to doing when on the sticks. The Chief and I had, by the time we had finished all the measuring and drawing, spent quite a bit of time on the bridge, which was provided with two well upholstered seats facing aft for the driver and the engineer, and one at the forward end for the watchkeeper. And we noticed that from the watchkeeper’s seat it was only possible to see directly forward, since looking to port and starboard offered views of the pillars between the bridge windows. I remembered that the traditional American tugs overcame this problem by having a semi-circular shaped wheelhouse and so I drew a triangular bridge front on our plan and sent it to the owners. When the UT 734s Star Sirius and Star Spica entered service in 1985 they were equipped with the modified joystick, and were wonderful ships with two nine cylinder Wartsila diesels producing 9000 bhp, and twin work drums offering a massive wire storage capacity (for those days), however the owners balked at the idea of the triangular bridge front. Soon after appearing in Aberdeen they were hired by Shell and were their anchor-handlers of choice for many years. But Ulsteins have never been slow to take up what seems like good ideas, and so when the Northern Frontier, a further UT 734 entered service in 1987, there was the triangular bridge front (Photo of the ship as the Pacific Frontier, from Shipspotting). Ever afterwards I have thought that this radical change to bridge design, which became more or less standard in the years which followed, was my idea, but it turns out that I was wrong, and on compiling these narratives I find that the first offshore designs to be so provided were the Ikaluk and the Miscaroo out in Canada. So well done Robert Allen.