Olympic Chooses Kongsberg K-Walk Kit for Olympic Orion

Norway’s Olympic Shipping has chosen Kongsberg Maritime’s new K-Walk integrated vessel gangway solution for installation aboard the multipurpose offshore vessel (MPSV) Olympic Orion to provide transfer of personnel and materials between the vessel and offshore wind turbines.

K-Walk will be integrated with the advanced Kongsberg Information Management System (K-IMS) and the existing K-Pos Dynamic Position system on board Olympic Orion, which will be upgraded as part of the installation in the latter half of 2017.

The system is activated prior to entering a wind turbine’s safety zone, reducing vessel speed and launching the K-Walk hook up process during approach. Because of the integration with the DP, the gangway is said to be able to move into position while the vessel is still moving, positioning it safely as the vessel arrives on station.

Kongsberg said that the integration of K-Walk with K-IMS enables in-depth mission planning, resulting in increased productivity and efficiency by finding the most preferred route for increased service capability within the wind farm.

The K-Walk solution for Olympic Orion is also expected to improve time for mobility and safety with an integrated lift system for transfer of people and goods, including electric trolleys, currently under design, for movement of pallets across the gangway.

“K-Walk provides Olympic Orion with total oversight of route planning and gangway hook-up operations. It enables better real-time and long-term management decisions, and empowers safer, more predictable, and efficient operations through reduced human interaction and automation based on the deep integration of critical systems on board,” said Stene Førsund, Executive Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing, Kongsberg Maritime.

Bjørn Kvalsund, COO of Olympic Subsea, said that this gangway solution might be installed on several other Orion vessels ”in order to provide W2W services into an expanding and interesting market segment.”