Ship & Boat International: eNews February 2017
Southampton Marine Services has launched a new aquaculture service vessel, Alyssa, from its Ocean Quay facility in Southampton, UK. The 23m x 8m steel vessel was constructed for Scottish commercial diving and underwater maintenance specialist eco Marine, and will primarily be tasked with inspecting, maintaining and cleaning fish farm nets. Upon delivery – with the scheduled handover to take place on the Isle of Skye – Alyssa will constitute Leco Marine’s largest vessel to date.
Built to a design supplied by Argyll Maritime Design Services, Alyssa features a spacious aft deck with a cargo capacity of 105tonnes and housing a TMC-BS500M6 deck crane, supplied by Truck and Marine Cranes (TMC), with a SWL of 2.5tonnes at 15.92m reach. This arrangement enables the lifting and transportation of diving gear and net-cleaning equipment.
The vessel has a draught of 2.3m and can accommodate a three-man crew, with single berth cabins providing respite during overnight tasks.
Alyssa is powered by twin Doosan V158TIH diesel engines, each rated 353kW at 1,800rpm, and driving a pair of BT Marine four-bladed, fixed-pitch propellers via reverse reduction gearboxes. The vessel has also been fitted with a bow thruster. David Skea, Leco Marine managing director, comments: “The twin engine design and bow thruster makes Alyssa extremely manoeuvrable in and around fish farm cages, whilst her shallow draught design will ensure the risk of catching on moorings or fish farm grids is minimised.” Her service speed has been recorded at 9knots.
Chris Norman, managing director of Southampton Marine Services, says that the Alyssa contract was an important one for the yard. “The expansion that we have seen on the back of signing contracts such as Leco Marine’s newbuild means that we now have a 200-person-strong workforce and are able to assist in ensuring that UK shipbuilding skills are kept alive,” he comments. The yard is also working on a multipurpose workboat for port operations, for future delivery to Svitzer.
