OREANDA-NEWS. Rolls-Royce congratulates shipowner DOF Subsea Rederi and designer and builder Vard on winning the prestigious “Ship of the Year” award in Norway. This year’s award was presented to the company’s Skandi Africa at Nor-Shipping in Oslo today.

John Knudsen, Rolls-Royce, President – Commercial Marine said “We are proud to be associated with this fine ship. We were pleased to be selected to supply Skandi Africa’s main engines, the complete thruster propulsion and manoeuvrings system and also the launch and recovery system for the ROVs that are a key element in the vessel’s operation.”

Skandi Africa has a total installed power of 24MW, provided by Bergen medium speed diesel generator sets. Four of these are 8-cylinder type B32:40L8ADC each developing 3,840kW. The other two are of the same type but with 9-cylinders, each rated at 4,320kW. 

A total of seven thrusters of various types provide transit speed, manoeuvrability and not least the thrust needed to hold the ship in position against the effects of wind, waves and current when the vessel is operating in Dynamic Positioning (DP) mode. Skandi Africa has IMO DP3 class, which places high demands on thruster availability and reliability.

Three azimuth thrusters are positioned at the stern. These are efficient Contaz units with contra-rotating propellers, each rated at 3,700kW, and these provide the propulsion in transit or the thrust vectors to position the stern of the vessel when in DP mode.

At the bow are four thrusters. Two of these are tunnel thrusters providing pure side thrust. They have an individual rating of 2,800kW. The other two are retractable azimuthing thrusters providing all-round thrust vectors for positioning, each rated at 2,200kW. 

Skandi Africa has three moonpools, the main working one on the vessel’s centreline flanked by two WROV moonpools each 5m by 5.6m. ROVs are launched and recovered through the side moonpools using a Launch and Recovery System (LARS) developed and supplied by Rolls-Royce.

The two sets of systems offers accurate active heave compensation and automatic launch and recovery to a given target speed. Skandi Africa’s WROVs are rated for water depths up to 4,000m. Included in the delivery from Rolls-Royce are two moonpool hatches and a robust skid system ensuring secure handling of equipment between the moonpools and to the aft deck during operation.

The system delivery includes a fully integrated control system for the deck machinery, as well as the Helicon X3 propulsion control system.