Trio building high-speed aluminum ‘vessels of tomorrow’ for oil & gas industry

Singapore-based shipbuilder Strategic Marine has partnered with France’s Aircat Vessels and Norway-headquartered ship design player Espeland and Skomedal Naval Architects (ESNA) to build three 35-meter surface effect ships (SES), which will be employed in the offshore oil and gas industry.

The construction of three high-speed aluminum ships with speeds up to 50 knots and offshore transfer capabilities in waves of up to 2.5 meters is currently underway at Strategic Marine’s shipyard in Singapore. According to ESNA, this development comes nearly eight years after the making of the first vessel sketches.

The Singaporean player disclosed that it was looking forward to bringing SES technology to the offshore oil and gas industry after it had previously been used in other vessel applications.

Describing the ships as “the most high-performing vessels of tomorrow”, Aircat Vessels noted: “Every welder, every engineer, every member of our team invests their passion and expertise to bring these vessels to life, leaving their mark on maritime history. Leveraging Surface Effect Ship (SES) technology, they promise increased efficiency, unmatched speed, and reduced environmental footprint.”

Construction of vessels at the Strategic Marine shipyard

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As part of its effort to deliver sustainable solutions to the industry, the Singaporean shipbuilder entered into a memorandum of understanding with Caterpillar Marine last year to support new solutions for cutting emissions and commissioned an emissions study to assess the carbon mitigation potential of using Sea Forrest’s energy saving system.