N EWS FLASH - Alewijnse

Navy
Navy
Contracts for two support vessels
Major order for Australia
Last year, Damen Shipyards and DMS Maritime Pty. Ltd. signed
contracts for the building of two support vessels being built
at Damen’s partner Shipyard, Shipyard 189 in Haiphong
(Vietnam). The vessels, the 83-metre EGS (Escape Gear Ship)
8316 and 93-metre RGS (Rescue Gear Ship) 9316, will support
Australia’s submarine fleet and be delivered in 2015 and 2016
respectively. Alewijnse was contracted by Damen Shipyards to
supply the power distribution, systems, alarm and monitoring
system, and will also be responsible for commissioning of these
systems.
Ciprian Neamtu
DMS Maritime Pty. Ltd., which operates and maintains a fleet of
around 75 vessels, is a subsidiary of Serco - an international service
company working for governments worldwide. The RGS 9316
and EGS 8316 are based on a proven Damen concept realized for
Serco UK on behalf of the UK Royal Navy three years ago.
Alewijnse’s role as a successful co-maker of Damen in this earlier
project earned the company its place in the team to build these
latest vessels.
“Although these vessels are roughly the same length as the Royal
Navy support ship we participated in building three years ago,
all comparisons regarding the electrical specification end there,”
says Ciprian Neamtu, Technical Manager – Alewijnse Marine
Galati . “The power management system, for instance, has to cope
with six generators when normally there would be three or four.
This is because there are more main deck consumers in the form
of high-tech equipment, such as an ROV, which all have to be supported.
The first challenge will be to provide redundancy for the
extra generators.”
Similarly, the DP2 dynamic-positioning system to be installed also
has more demanding requirements because the number of modules
has been increased for redundancy in order to comply with DP
Class 2 rules. Redundancy has to be provided at all levels to make
sure that any single failure will not result in loss of position. “The
electrical equipment aboard both of these ships is very complex.
One of the most complex vessels we have built,” continues Ciprian.
“But we like challenges and are used to pushing the limits when
the need arises”.
The project team coordinated by senior project manager, Alexandru
Munteanu, and junior project manager, Gabriel Savin, will
have plenty of those because Alewijnse has been awarded total
responsibility for integrating all of the electrical systems on board,
for which work is already well under way.
“We quoted for this project 18 months ago and the contract was
signed at the end of 2012. Detailed engineering began earlier this
year, which is important for the shipyard because productivity
needs to be at a high level. As well as supplying detailed drawings,
cable routing, item and device list, and equipment location. We
have also made our software database available to them for maximum
efficiency.”
The project team was also challenged by having two different
companies of the Damen Group to work with, namely, Damen
Schelde Naval Shipbuilding in Vlissingen and Damen Shipyards
in Gorinchem. Alexandru Munteanu: “We remained in very close
contact with Damen’s team and made doubly sure that everything
was crystal clear to them, including all diagrams. This ensured that
the request was fully understood and that the client was being informed
correctly regarding the final scope of delivery of the electrical
system.”
Alewijnse Newsflash | 16
17 | Alewijnse Newsflash