Captain Praises Ulstein-built ‘Blue Fighter’ Supply Vessel

In recent years, Inge Gjelsten has been Captain on board several newbuilds: “’Blue Fighter’ is the best of them by far,” he states. He is soon to retire, and concludes: “If I were a newly-educated captain planning for a career on a supply vessel in the North Sea, a vessel of this type would be my preferred choice.”

The medium-sized platform supply vessel ‘Blue Fighter’ of PX121 design from ULSTEIN was ordered based on trends in the North Sea market. After only days of operation in the spot market, ‘Blue Fighter’ entered a one-year contract, with an option for an additional year, with the American oil company Apache for work in the North Sea.

Remøy Shipping has technical and commercial management of the vessel and feedback on her seakeeping abilities is invariably positive.

Captain Gjelsten continues:

“All on board agree that this is a remarkably efficient and comfortable vessel in all weather conditions. Wind and seas have little impact on the vessel’s performance compared to conventional PSV s. We can compare performance directly when steaming on the same tracks to the oil fields: With the same weather conditions and 3-5 metres head sea within 30 degrees of the bow, our ship can easily and comfortably maintain a speed of 12-13 knots, while the other vessels have to reduce their speed to 7-8 knots. The higher speed is a result of the ‘X-BOW® effect’. Also, due to the position of the stabilisation tanks on board, ‘Blue Fighter’ operates extremely well when wind and seas approach from the side.”

Ulstein Verft delivered the vessel to Blue Ship Invest in January this year.

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Offshore Nieuws Staff, May 23, 2012; Image : Ulstein