Category: Press Release

Flensburg: Flensburger-Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) recently marked the start of a new era by successfully handing over Amazon Warrior to its customer WesternGeco.

“In the specialised shipbuilding sector, this is the most important ship we have built in
the past 20 years. She has opened a door for us into a market segment which will help to secure the future of our concern”, said FSG Managing Director Peter Sierk. Speaking during the hand-over ceremony he also recalled the orders signed just this spring for two further offshore ships for Siem Offshore for charter to Helix Energy Solutions. “We are making our mark in this market segment, drawing attention to ourselves because of our outstanding performance and working to create follow-up orders. We are very proud of all of this”, the yard chief said.

On behalf of all the shipbuilders in Flensburg Sierk thanked the company. It has however been demonstrated yet again, Sierk went on, that high quality, absolute contract and deadline reliability, broad-based engineering competence, passion and tailor-made ship designs provided a healthy foundation on which Flensburg shipbuilders could build.

The AMAZON WARRIOR is an Amazon-class vessel that features the world´s first custom-built hull and propulsion system, developed exclusively for seismic operations using a WesternGeco proprietary design. As far as efficiency, safety, reliability and durability are concerned; this vessel meets the highest of demands and supports secure operation anywhere the ship operates, including the Polar Regions, even in the most inhospitable weather conditions.

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Flensburg: Amazon Warrior only left the outfitting quay at Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) a short while ago. Today her sister Amazon Conqueror (FSG Hull No. 763) berthed there for completion by autumn after a successful launch by the shipbuilders in Flensburg. Both newbuildings are special offshore seismic ships for WesternGeco and will in future search for oil and gas reserves below the seabed of the world’s oceans.

FSG has already said it regards the order for these ships as marking its successful entry into the global offshore business sector. However, in the light of these and further prototypes which the yard has taken into its construction portfolio over the past two years, one particular aspect carries particular weight – quality. FSG Managing Director Peter Sierk told the many guests and employees gathered for today’s official launch of Amazon Conqueror that “despite all the difficulties that can crop up with new projects, the shipbuilders of Flensburg have, during this difficult period, again delivered top-quality ships to the satisfaction of our customers and intends to go on doing that, as today’s launch shows”. Sierk had special praise for his shipyard’s entire work force, saying they had all pulled together and had delivered the high-quality work which the customer had asked for. “We can be proud of what we have achieved to-date”, he said.

Sierk had special thanks for the representatives of WesternGeco. “Placing this order with us when it did was an enormous vote of confidence in advance by WesternGeco – a world market leader”, he said. “The most important thing for me with this project is that we were able to justify this trust with our performance”. The delivery of Amazon Warrior and the launch now of Amazon Conqueror show “we can do offshore”, he declared.

Amazon Warrior and Amazon Conqueror are seismic ships which are 127 metres long and 28 metres broad and the biggest in the customer’s fleet. As far as efficiency, comfort, reliability and durability are concerned, they meet the highest of demands and guarantee safe operation anywhere on the planet, including the Polar regions and, even there, in the most inhospitable of weather conditions.

Ships of this type spend months, even years, at sea without a break. That’s why WesternGeco places a lot of value on accommodation and onboard working areas. The interior of each ship covers about 7,000 square metres and there is room for 76 single cabins, leisure and community areas (such as a cinema, sauna, fitness rooms, game room, galley with self-service area) and a large computer centre.

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Flensburg: Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) successfully launched ‘Loch Seaforth’ at noon today for Scottish customer Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL). The ship is a state-of-the-art, complex RoPax ferry built to carry up to 700 passengers and 143 cars, or 20 trucks. In just three months time the 116 metre long ‘Loch Seaforth’ will link the mainland of northwestern Scotland with the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides on the Stornoway-Ullapool route. Because of her high-value, modern design and construction, the ferry is suitable for round-the-clock operation and as a result will replace two older ferry ships.

“When we reached agreement on this project with CMAL a year and a half ago, the contract was dependent on the highest possible degree of reliability”, recalls FSG chief Peter Sierk. It was not only that CMAL wanted to start its service with ‘Loch Seaforth’ on schedule in July of 2014. “It was also because ‘Loch Seaforth’ was to replace two older ferries in 24 hour operation on a dependable, no-delay time-table that CMAL placed such very high demands on reliable and trouble-free daily operation”, adds Sierk.

Today’s launch demonstrates FSG capability yet again. “We are completely on schedule”, commented Sierk “and we are convinced that we will be able to hand over this newbuilding to our customer right on time, as we have done with all our other ships over the past 15 years”

It was in summer 2012 that the Flensburger Werft bid won the contract, over stiff international competition, because of many advantages: delivery and deadline reliability, high cost effectiveness, an outstanding price-performance ratio and top-class Flensburg shipbuilding quality along with low operational costs and low emissions.

“The construction of ‘Loch Seaforth’ demonstrates once again that we succeed when we develop individual and innovative solutions on behalf of customers. Our strength lies in the fact that we understand the requirements of the customer, make intensive efforts to try to meet them and then develop a tailor-made solution. That’s something you find almost nowhere else”, says Peter Sierk.

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Next successful step into the Offshore market: FSG wins order for two Well Intervention Vessels

Flensburger-Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) is happy to report an order from Offshore vessel operator Siem Offshore, based in Kristiansand, Norway, for two identical newbuildings for well intervention services, based on a 307 WIV design of the Norwegian company SALT Ship Design.

FSG has made a name for itself over the past 15 years as the world leader in the building of RoRo and RoPax ships, and entered the Offshore market with two orders for Dutch operator RollDock as well as two orders for Seismic vessels for WesternGeco. For the Flensburg-based yard, this is another successful step in the expansion of its production portfolio. Managing Director Peter Sierk said “we have been working in the Offshore sector for some years now and this order of complex products proves that we have established our position in this high-tech market.

The two vessels will be owned by Siem Offshore and chartered by the worldwide leading Offshore service provider Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc.

The new WIVs will have a length of 158 metres, a beam of 31 metres and a max. service speed of 17 knots. The vessels are compliant to MODU code and Well Intervention 2 notation. They provide accommodation for 150 persons.

Delivery of the two new orders from the yard is scheduled for February 2016, respectively July 2016. Afterwards they will be equiped with Helix topside equipment.

Still on the yard’s order book are one multifunctional heavy-lift ship for RollDock (Netherlands), two seismic vessels for WesternGeco (England), and one RoPax ferry for the Scottish ferry company Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd.