New Drill Ship Equipped with AHC Drilling Platform

Newly launched multipurpose drill ship FREJA integrates a high-performance active heave compensated drilling platform manufactured by MacArtney. The drilling setup on board the vessel has been designed to provide enhanced drilling conditions even in rough seas.

A customized, motion-compensated working platform of 10 times seven meters is situated amidships. This means that the working deck remains stationary while the vessel follows the movements of the waves.

The platform design includes a roll function compensating for the vessel rolls by +/- 7 degrees. The active heave compensation is achieved by four fast reacting, high performance winches mounted on the corner pillars supporting the entire platform. The winches are controlled by an integrated control system, which ensures that the complete platform is synchronized with the vessel dynamic positioning control system. This enables drilling methods which ensure higher sample quality than that usually achieved carrying out traditional drill ship procedures. This way, the operation remains less dependent on the weather conditions.

In addition to project management, mechanical design and engineering, as well as installation and commissioning, the scope of supply of this MacArtney turnkey solution includes the 100 t AHC drilling platform, four  winches, the integrated control system and a spare package comprising among others three spare winches. The main purpose of this system is within offshore wind projects.