Acta Marine’s 6,050gt/2019 built Acta Centaurus, the company’s second DP2 walk-to-work Construction Support Vessel based on the Ulstein SX195 hull design, arrived at Ulstein Verft for outfitting about 3 weeks prior to Christmas, under tow from the hull builder in Poland. The X-Bow and X-Stern equipped ship will be able to cater for 120 persons and offers a 1,000m2 deck area for cargo storage plus a Helideck. The ship will now receive her SMST motion compensated gangway and 6t 3D crane with delivery scheduled for the second quarter of 2019, joining the Acta Marine fleet, which consists of over 40 vessels including the 6,078gt/2018 built Acta Auriga and the 6,532gt/2015 built Acta Orion plus Multicats, Walk-to-Work Vessels, Crew Transfer Vessels, Multipurpose & Survey Vessels, and Barges. Acta Marine started out in 1970 as a family-owned business and remains so today.

Eidesvik Offshore’s sister-ships 12,550gt/2011 built 12,550gt/ 2010 built Oceanic Sirius and Oceanic Vega completed a 10 day maintenance programme at Damen Shiprepair Amsterdam (DSAm) in November. For eight of those days the two 106m vessels were in the yard’s 250m drydock no.4 in a tandem arrangement, to maximise the efficient use of resources. The twin SX120 type seismic research vessels are state-of-the-art and owned by CGG Eidesvik Ship Management AS, a joint venture between Eidesvik Offshore and CGG. The builder was Ulstein Verft in Norway.

Hansa Heavy Lift, a German heavy lift company, filed for insolvency with the Hamburg District Court in December amid challenging market conditions. The decision was allegedly triggered by the company’s US-based investor Oaktree Capital Management on 10th December. The court appointed Hamburg restructuring expert, lawyer and tax consultant Christoph Morgen as preliminary insolvency administrator. Founded in 2011, the heavy lift company operates a fleet of 11 vessels, specialising in super heavy lift, heavy lift, and project cargo transportation and installation in the subsea oil and gas markets, as well as the offshore windfarm sector. The company was established following the insolvency of its Bremen-based predecessor, Beluga Shipping, which was taken over by Oaktree in 2010.

Maersk Supply Service has been awarded a contract with Chevron Australia which will see two of its newbuild anchor handling tug supply vessels support the Chevron-operated Gorgon Stage Two drilling programme. The 10,181gt/2017 built Maersk Mariner and Maersk Master will provide towing, anchor handling, supply, and WROV services for the programme in the Northwest Shelf of Western Australia starting in the second quarter of 2019. The two ships have been working in Western Australia since September 2017 and March 2018 respectively, where they will remain until the contract commences. Throughout the programme, both vessels will be operated by local crews and supported from Maersk Supply Service’s Perth shore base. The Maersk Mariner and Maersk Master are the first two vessels of Maersk Supply Service’s Starfish newbuilding series, designed to minimise fuel consumption while maximising reliability and onboard safety. Following their delivery in 2017, three more vessels of the series have joined the fleet, with the final due for delivery in early 2019.

Sentinel Marine of Aberdeen has created 80 new jobs with a £36m order for three new emergency response and rescue vessels (ERRVs). The ships, to be named Cromarty Sentinel, Trafalgar Sentinel and Viking Sentinel, will come into service by the end of 2020. All three of the new additions, which are being built at a shipyard in China, will have increased dynamic positioning capabilities with a DP2 notation, firefighting class 1, oil recovery and liquid mud and dry bulk capacities. This speculative investment by Sentinel Marine will increase the workforce to 400 persons. Sentinel Marine’s fleet is contracted by a number of operators, including Equinor, INEOS, Neptune and Nexen to support their activities in the North Sea. One of their ships is also chartered by the European Fisheries Control Agency and used as a patrol vessel in international and EU waters. The firm placed an order for nine new ships in 2015 and will take delivery of the final vessel from that contract, the 2,173gt Malin Sentinel, in April.