Brave Tern upgrades add value for customers and the environment

To support the needs of offshore windfarm developers for many years to come – and to help us better protect the environment – Brave Tern has completed a 10-year class renewal and received a series of upgrades at the PaxOcean Batam shipyard in Indonesia.

The renewal and upgrades equip Brave Tern with cutting-edge technologies that enhance its service capability, reliability, and operational efficiency. “Fred. Olsen Windcarrier proactively invests in its vessels so that we can service our customers’ needs today and tomorrow,” says Torstein Aannestad, Project Manager for the Brave Tern yard stay.

Flexibility and versatility

The first notable upgrade is to the vessel’s Spud Cans, which have been reinforced to manage a preload weight of 9000t on the Spud Can tips. This is especially important when we encounter rocky or extremely hard seabed surfaces during the installation process. Essentially, this means Brave Tern can now operate in a more diverse set of seabed conditions, ensuring far greater flexibility for project planning and execution.

Protecting the environment

Brave Tern’s ballast system has also been upgraded with a new ballast water treatment system. This enables the vessel to manage and discharge ballast water more safely to eliminate cross-contamination of aquatic organisms – an important step in line with our commitment towards sustainability and our obligation to protecting the marine environment.

This also puts Brave Tern in compliance with the International Maritime Organizations’ guidelines for the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ship’s Ballast Water and Sediments.

Greater manoeuvrability and control

Brave Tern has also received a replacement for one of three bow thrusters. This is part of a proactive maintenance program that mitigates risk of wear and helps preserve the vessel’s manoeuvrability.

Smooth sailing into the future

These important improvements have increased Fred. Olsen Windcarrier’s ability to deliver world-class installation services and to handle turbines of any size. Brave Tern’s crew is already getting ready to put these upgrades to good use during the next scheduled installation project, set to begin in May 2022.

Read more about Brave Tern and the rest of our versatile fleet of jack-up vessels, providing cost-effective and high-quality solutions across transport, installation, and operations and maintenance.