Congratulations to Wallaby Boats and Hitzler Werft, from all the team at Nauti-Craft on the launching of the worlds first Suspension Equipped Crew Transfer Vessel (SECTV).
The Wallaby-18, designed in Germany, is the first vessel intended for commercial operation with a suspension system developed by Australia’s Nauti-Craft.
The independent suspension technology has been designed to enable the two hulls to balance and compensate for wave forces independently, reducing slamming and motions whilst the vessel is transiting. In “active” mode, the deck is stabilised during docking at wind turbines, allowing safer passage for the technicians when transferring from the boat to the turbines.
Classed by Lloyd’s Register, the SECTV is the result of years of hard work by Nauti-Craft and Wallaby Boats and their supply chain partners. The Wallaby-18 will be tested together with EnBW Erneuerbare Operation & Service GmbH, the vessel’s owner, while deployed in servicing offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea.
Waste heat generated by the vessels hydraulics is used to heat the ships deck in winter to prevent icing.
The prototype takes the Nauti-Craft technology from Technical Readiness Level (TRL) 5 to 7. It will subsequently be developed into a series of SECTVs and marketed in sizes ranging from 10 to 24 metres, for now.
Wallaby Boats GmbH managing director, Eike Kristian Höper, remarked on the high level of interest in the new vessel and the number of requests for ‘test rides’.
Harald Hübner, managing director of OFFCON GmbH said at the launching; “As a small shipping company from the tranquil town of Kappeln on the Schlei, we are very proud to have been involved in this exciting project from the very beginning. Over the next few weeks, the ship will be fitted out at Hitzler Werft’s outfitting quay and tested in port before the crossing via Hamburg and the Kiel Canal for sea trials in the Baltic Sea. There, the ship with its innovative suspension system will be put through its paces and, in particular, demonstrate its performance in rough seas, which is eagerly awaited by the industry. The christening is planned for the end of April in Kappeln.
