Strategic Marine speeds up crew transfers offshore

Two of the three units have commenced operations in Angola.

Strategic Marine (S) Pte Ltd. has delivered two sidewall hovercraft to Dubai-based All Energies Services to help the company speed up crew transfers in the offshore oil and gas sector, whilst cutting fuel expenses.

Three 35-metre AIRCAT 35 Crewliner vessels were made for $45m, all for All Energies Services’ fleet in Angola, Chan Eng Yew, CEO at Strategic Marine, told Asian Business Review in a Zoom interview. The last ship is making its way to the Southern African nation, he added.

The Singapore shipbuilder’s surface effect technology allows its vessels to travel almost twice as fast as conventional ships using the same amount of fuel, Chan noted that whilst surface effect technology has been around for years, it has been largely untapped by the oil and gas industry.

To address the gap, Strategic Marine worked with Norway-based Espeland and Skomedal Naval Architects and France-based AIRCAT Vessels to develop the AIRCAT 35 Crewliner surface effect ships.

With speeds reaching more than 50 knots or more than 90 kilometres per hour, he described the vessels as something that “sits between a more conventional vessel and a hovercraft.” They use air to barely lift the vessel out of the water, minimising hull drag.

The ships, which can move 80 crew members, use four 16-cylinder MTU Series 2000M72 engines from Rolls-Royce Power Systems AG.

Chan said they chose MTU for the project because it is fast. Each engine delivers 5,760 kilowatts of power and features “the highest power-to-weight ratio available in the market.”

Rolls-Royce MTU is also developing upgrade kits for these engines to ensure they can be used with alternative fuels in the future, he added. “This is also going to enable the project to be relevant in the years ahead, when methanol becomes a more commonly used fuel source.”

Since the AIRCAT 35 Crewliner is faster, it can cut carbon emissions to about 9,000 tonnes yearly compared with 18,000 to 26,000 tonnes for conventional vessels, according to data from Strategic Marine. 

Chan expects the deployment of ships using surface effect technology in Asia’s oil and gas industry to gain momentum after the deal with All Energies Services.

Strategic Marine has signed a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia’s Centus Marine Sdn Bhd to explore the use of the tech, he said.

“The oil and gas industry is a little bit more conservative when it comes to new technology, so it will take time for them to warm up to the idea,” Chan said.