Norway leads the way in the offshore industry

As production from the existing North Sea oil wells is slowing down, the Norwegians are well established to make the most of the opportunities, and face up to the challenges, of new emerging markets.

Recently The Motorship visited the Møre area around Ålesund, on a tour focusing on the offshore industry. We began our visit with the Norwegian Centre for Expertise, whose NCE Maritime, based at Ålesund University, has established, and continues to promote, the thriving offshore-based cluster in the area. As NCE Maritime says in its report, it comprises a complete value chain and includes players from the shipping, ship design, shipbuilding, equipment supply, research, education and finance sectors. The cluster companies operate on a global scale and are leading international heavyweights. Many of them operate all over the world. Famous brands such as Rolls Royce Marine, STX OSV, Farstad Shipping and Ulstein Group have their main activities in Møre, with many others.

It is obvious that the maritime industry, and offshore in particular, enjoys a high profile locally. This of course is something of a chicken-and-egg situation – an industry which provides so much employment and so many financial benefits is bound to enjoy a high level of awareness and support, and that level of support allows it to flourish and expand. On the face of it, this contrasts with the maritime industry in most of the rest of the Western world, where despite the significant contribution it makes to various economies, it remains mostly a closely-guarded secret (at least until an accident occurs, but that’s a different story). As such, Møre attracts students to its colleges and universities, anxious to get involved in a thriving industry, as well as graduates and other qualified personnel from other parts of Scandinavia and further afield. Even so, recruitment of sufficient high-calibre personnel is still a difficulty.

Ålesund University is, thanks to NCE and the offshore industry, currently undergoing an ambitious development programme, with, among other facilities, a new offshore simulator centre, in which high-profile local companies such as Rolls-Royce Marine are playing a major role.

With the North Sea oil and gas development slowing down, the offshore oil and gas industry is looking to exploit more fields, which means more specialised vessels deeper water capabilities. Much was made recently, at the 2011 Nor-Shipping exhibition near Oslo, of the opportunities in Brazil, and the Norwegian offshore industry in general is very much involved there. Some operators, however, mindful of the difficulties of working in South America, are looking elsewhere, to areas such as West Africa, the Far East and Austrialia, and, of course, the Arctic.

Two of the biggest ship and equipment manufacturing operations in the Møre area are Ulstein and Rolls-Royce Marine, both based in Ulsteinvik. The cornerstone of the Rolls-Royce offshore involvement is the UT ship design portfolio; since the first UT design in 1975, Rolls-Royce has been responsible for over 750 vessels built or on order, which are based on more than 70 different UT-designs and over 30 from NVC (NordVest Consult, another design company taken into the Rolls-Royce empire). Although Rolls-Royce and Ulstein are now distinct, unconnected companies that nevertheless enjoy a fruitful cooperation as a result of their involvement in the Norway West Coast maritime cluster, the UT designs originated with Ulstein. Much of the Ulstein group, including the ship design activity, was taken over by Vickers – along with Kamewa and Brown Brothers – in the 1990s, and the Vickers marine companies were in turn acquired by Rolls-Royce in 1999. Ulstein continued independently as a shipbuilder, and has, since then, developed its own portfolio of offshore designs.

Rolls-Royce, in the meantime, has grown to offer a complete package of design and equipment for shipbuilders in the offshore sector, with Bergen gas and diesel engines (and now a half-share in MTU parent group Tognum), propellers, thrusters, waterjets, gearboxes, electrical systems, automation, control and dynamic positioning, and deck gear – the latter being enhanced by the acquisition of another member of the West Coast cluster, Odim.

The current UT Design catalogue encompasses AHTS, PSV, construction, seismic, subsea, well intervention, special purpose and multipurpose vessels as well as specialised adaptations of the basic designs for applications such as Coast Guard ships. Considerable resources have been invested in designing high-efficiency hull forms, combining fuel economy and energy efficiency with stability and good seakeeping. Rolls-Royce claims that its hull forms have evolved so that the latest designs offer, for equivalent displacement, improvements of up to 20% in resistance and 40% in fuel efficiency in comparison with designs from 20 years ago. As well as fuel economy and safety, the current designs are said to offer reliability, flexibility, competitive construction and lifecycle costs, and a ‘clean’ design providing a good working environment. The company takes an integrated approach, looking at whole-ship solutions, which it says is made possible by the extent of its own supply capabilities.

Challenges for the future are seen as designing and producing ships and equipment that operate more safely, more cleanly, and in a deeper water environment. A feature of the latest generation of UT designs is the wave-piercing hull, which Rolls-Royce says was developed using CFD technology and verified through model tests. The company believes this offers the best solution for economical operation in both calm water and heavy seas, and offers a distinctive visual identity, albeit somewhat closer to traditional hull lines than some other designs.

With rising energy prices, economical ship operation is essential. Rolls-Royce sees a definite future for oil and gas in the wider energy picture – although deepwater (up to 3,000m or so) exploration and extraction will result in prices per barrel that are considerably more costly than the present-day fields, oil and gas will remain highly competitive with other energy sources such as nuclear, biofuels, offshore wind and new-generation coal technology. Therefore the demand for more capable, more efficient offshore newbuilds will remain strong, despite the contraction in shipbuilding in general.

Rolls-Royce is therefore cooperating with various other companies and organisations to design vessels that best serve the needs of oil and gas operators seeking to exploit new field in deeper waters and challenging conditions. In the Arctic for example, it is working on separate projects with DNV and Canadian universities as well as carrying out its own research into deck gear, winches and cranes for ice and deepwater applications. In more conventional locations, Rolls-Royce expects the North Sea to remain a core market for some time, but Brazil, Asia, the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa will be important areas. Subsea fields in deeper waters will need to be opened up, which will offer challenges in equipment design and manufacture – for example the greater depth will preclude the use of traditional steel cables, on grounds of weight, so it is developing systems for handling long lengths of fibre rope.

One important area of new technology identified by Rolls-Royce is permanent magnet motors, which are more energy efficient, cleaner and more compact than traditional motors. These are currently being applied to areas such as rim driven thrusters, anchor handling and ROV winches, as well as azimuthing thrusters and steering gear. Tunnel thrusters and winch projects are actively under development, with prototypes being tested at Ulsteinvik.

Gas fuelled propulsion, of course, is another important technology, and Rolls-Royce is closely involved in all aspects, though, in contrast to most other engine designers, the company strongly favours its Bergen Diesel pure gas system rather than dual fuel. It does, however, see a future in hybrid gas-diesel electric propulsion systems for PSVs.

Neighbour Ulstein has re-invented itself since the 1999 split and in the intervening 12 years has grown to a specialist offshore-focused group, with about 800 employees and an order book of about NOK 3.1 billion. Deputy CEO Tore Ulstein says that the group’s focus areas are in sustainable growth, internationalisation and innovation. This last area is clearly illustrated by the X-bow, the innovative rounded, inverted bow form featured on many of the company’s current designs. The company encourages original thought in how it goes about its designs – Ulstein refers to this as "stimulation, freedom and madness" – but the end results are firmly rooted in the reality of being a major player in the current highly-competitive offshore vessel market.

Like Rolls-Royce, Ulstein recognises that oil and gas will continue to be the main energy source for the next 30-40 years, but this will involvethe development of deeper and more remote fields, calling for novel, specialised ship designs. Ulstein sees the Arctic as a major focus, with some 30% of presently undiscovered resources expected to be found there. Tore Ulstein points to the need to provide a superior product at competitive cost; oil companies are struggling to reduce their expenditure in the face of rising oil production costs, while safety and environmental concerns, and the need to operate in sensitive areas, drive production costs up further. Although Europe, and Norway in particular, has dominated the offshore support ship industry, Ulstein points to the fact that the Far East wants a slice of the cake. Aker, for instance has been acquired by the Korean STX, and Sinopacific is looking to establish a presence in Norway.

The Ulstein group, no longer just a shipbuilder, aims to apply a multi-disciplinary approach to ship design and building, looking at operational requirements and commercial aspects as well as technical considerations. The traditional approach, says Ulstein, tends to be fragmented, focusing on details and solutions. Again, reduced fuel consumption is seen as an important factor, with a 70% saving reported for the Ulstein A122 construction vessel Olympic Zeus by its owner, Olympic Shipping, even without the benefit of an X-bow.

Although the trend has been towards larger offshore support ships, Ulstein believes a better way forward is more, smaller, ships, with a focus on the whole transportation system rather than individual vessels. The whole system, says Ulstein, needs to be less fragmented, less politicised, and with fewer, but larger, stakeholders involved.

STX has a number of yards in Norway, including Søviknes in the Møre region. STX Offshore is headquartered in Norway, but part of the major Korean group. STX has an eye fixed firmly on the emerging Brazilian marketplace, with the new Promar shipyard in Pernambuco.

Like its compatriots, STX undertakes its own vessel design, although it builds ships to competitors’ designs. Current focus is on improved propulsion efficiency, with optimised hull/propulsion design and a new foreship design for reduced resistance in waves. STX has concentrated on calm water optimisation and on superstructure and bridge design, as demonstrated on the PSV Stril Orion, delivered to Simon Møkster Shiping from the Søviknes yard; the first example of the new hull and bridge design.

When The Motorship visited the yard, AMC Connector, a sophisticated DP3 multi-purpose construction vessel for EMAS AMC was nearing completion.

Other yards in the area include Kleven Maritime’s Førde and Myklebust, which has recently signed an order for a 5,000dwt type MT 6015 multipurpose platform supply vessel, for Myklebusthaug. In total, Kleven has eight PSVs and a seismic vessel on order for 2012/2013 delivery. As well as this, the two yards build fishing vessels and undertake repair and maintenance. Kleven can use hulls fabricated overseas, like most other Norwegian builders, but it favours building its own modular sections for assembly on its slipway at Ulsteinvik – something which it believes to be unique among Norwegian offshore shipbuilders. All outfitting and completion work is carried out in the Norwegian yards – the yard strongly believes in the concept of "bringing shipbuilding back to Norway".

Of course, not only shipbuilders and owners are located in Møre. Scana, in Volda, has recently grouped its propulsion-related activities worldwide under the Scana Propulsion banner, partnering with engine companies to provide complete tailor-made propulsion systems, including transmissions and propellers. It counts many well-known offshore companies among its customers and is looking to the Brazilian market in the future, establishing a partnership there with a local company, Offshore Reparos. Scana has supplied two twin in-single out gearboxes for a diesel-mechanical propulsion system for an OSV being built at the STX yard in Brazil.

Another well-known name in marine equipment in the Møre region is Sperre, based at Ellingsøy. The company has two main product lines, compressors and heat exchangers/coolers. The compressor range is being rationalised, with the traditional range being phased out in favour of the X-range. The fully-enclosed X range offers claimed safety benefits, and have fewer moving parts for greater reliability, but most importantly they are more efficient, and lighter, 25% less weight in air-cooled versions and 40% less weight for water-cooled.

It is in the range of cooling systems for offshore vessels that Sperre claims major breakthroughs. The company’s rack cooler is described as a "smarter alternative to box cooling" with equivalent cooling performance achieved in 10% less volume. Normal box coolers are installed at the hull sides, but the rack cooler is a modular system that can be installed below deck level close to the main engines to cut down on piping and infrastructure. Each cooler module can be withdrawn separately for inspection and maintenance. The materials have been used for freedom from galvanic corrosion and minimal fouling.

The second cooling innovation is known as the ‘pleat’ cooler; designed to function like a plate heat exchanger for seawater cooling; it is considerably simplified, comprising just one solid element and one gasket, whereas an equivalent plate exchanger would use 15 plates and 15 gaskets. This has obvious maintenance benefits, avoiding time-consuming disassembly and reassembly for cleaning. Sperre says that the pleat cooler element can be simply flushed out, reducing typical maintenance time from 8 hours to 1 hour. Because the pleat cooler uses less titanium and more composite, there are claimed cost advantages too.

Heating as well as cooling is represented in the area, though Ulmatec Pyro. The company specialises in interior heating systems, and has recently developed a new system which employs waste heat to increase the operating efficiency of its heating systems – Ulmatec cites figures of 200,000litres of fuel and 100,000litres of fuel respectively being used to product 100kW of heat energy, whereas using waste heat recovery 100kW of heat can be produced from zero fuel. This represents savings in both fuel cost and emissions, and, interestingly, the company believes it can use the same principles to operate systems for ballast water treatment or de-icing at zero fuel cost.