Comfortable crossing and maximum workability at every level

BOOTH NO. 1.117

OFFSHORE ENERGY AMSTERDAM

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF SMST.

Since the company started to develop a range of motion compensated gangway systems, SMST has continuously looked for further improvement. Recently, a unique height adjustment system was added to their modular rental gangway fleet.

According to Menno de Jong, Sales Manager at SMST, business is going well for SMST in both sales and rentals. “Five years ago, we started our rental business, and since then our gangway fleet has been expanded to eleven systems”, he says. “And, currently, the expansion is continuing. We have four new systems under construction for the o shore support vessel market. For many shipowners our track record with leading companies is proof of our excellent Walk-to-Work solution.”

More and more shipowners choose the SMST products, also for floating wind operations. Ingmar Otter, Commercial Manager of SMST, states, “We have recently successfully deployed our gangway at a floating wind farm. This operation has shown that even for this type of wind farms, despite the combination of turbines moving on the waves and height-changes caused by

tide, our modular gangway setup is an excellent solution to cross fast, safe, and flexible.”

The modular design of the gangways is one of the factors of SMST’s success. Mr Otter explains, “We can o er high flexibility with our modular telescopic access bridge (TAB). The gangway system consists of building blocks that enables setting up a TAB that meets all projectspecific requirements and makes it suitable for every possible operational condition. Both for the transfer of people and for handling cargo up to an impressive 1,000kg for our rental gangways.” Recently, SMST added a unique height adjustment system as a setup option for their gangways. “With our TAB, working on various heights has always been possible by means of stacking modules, and now we have introduced a height adjustment system that raises the flexibility even further”, Mr Otter states.

“The new height adjustment system ensures comfortable crossing and maximum workability at every level of an o shore platform”, Mr De Jong adds. “By means of a rail system attached to the stacking modules, the height of the TAB can be easily adjusted vertically up to 17m. This enables safe and easy connections with a large window of landing heights. The gangways are therefore suitable for deployment in all existing wind farms worldwide and for a wide variety of vessels and operational situations.”

“The height adjustment system is an addition to the modular TAB system in which we already have a lot of knowledge and experience”, Mr De Jong continues. “This means that this system is an innovation based on proven technology, so in fact it is just a matter of plug and play, making it a reliable product that can be installed without extensive preparations. A few of our partners have already experienced this and are pleasantly surprised with the fast mobilisation time. Due to the building blocks, the entire gangway system can be installed in just one day.” Apart from this, the modular gangway systems have more advantages, such as a small deck space footprint and avery low energy consumption. >>

“When looking more in detail to the low energy consumption”, Mr De Jong explains, “this is realised by making the gangway self-balancing, for which no additional energy is needed. This results in a gangway that has the lowest energy consumption and the lowest installed power in the market. This is important from a sustainability perspective, and also because it enables our systems to be installed on smaller vessels that often don’t have enough capacity available on board for powering additional tools such as gangways.”

At sea, all equipment has to deal with harsh and demanding circumstances. Data collection and data analysis are important tools for SMST to keep control over the operability of their fleet of gangways. “We stay in touch with our equipment 24/7 by collecting data we retrieve from the various sensors on our gangways. Analysing this data helps us to optimise the operations of the gangways”, Mr Otter elaborates. “For us, the data-driven decision-making process is very valuable. It supports us in taking steps for, for example, preventive maintenance, and in further improving our systems. We want to keep our systems at the forefront of autonomy and intelligence. The next step we are aiming for, is integrating our gangway systems with the DP, communication, and propulsion systems of the vessels. In the end, this could result in autonomous operating systems.”

With their innovative and flexible gangway systems, SMST is at the front row of the market. In addition to the gangways, SMST also o ers a range of 3D motion compensated cranes, Access & Cargo Towers, and cargo handling equipment. “End of November, we will be exhibiting at O shore Energy Exhibition and Conference in RAI Amsterdam. Of course, we look forward to meeting you there, and to show and tell you all about our range of products”, Mr Otter concludes.