Schat-Harding Sets New Standards With New Freefall Boat

Lifeboat and davit manufacturer Schat-Harding has completed the first freefall drop with its new design of lifeboat for the offshore sector, the FF1200 which, according to the manufacturer, sets new standards for freefall boats.

Schat-Harding CEO Ove Roessland says, ”We were acutely aware that, in order to satisfy regulations applying to the Norwegian offshore sector, it was necessary to design a completely new lifeboat. Now, after several years of research and development, and the successful completion of high-scale module testing, we have produced what we regard as the safest lifeboat ever developed by Schat-Harding. The first freefall drop of the FF1200 represents the culmination of a great deal of hard work, and it is something of which everybody at Schat-Harding is very proud. The FF1200 will improve safety levels for all offshore workers.”

The 70-person, 33 m-drop FF1200, with its streamlined design, is larger and stronger than other freefall lifeboats on the market, and its engine power is three times greater than anything seen in the Norwegian offshore sector over the last ten years.

Roessland explains, ”We have given the FF1200 project high priority within the company. It was vital for the offshore industry and its workforce that we built a lifeboat which generated confidence in freefall evacuation, and that is what we have done.”

Schat-Harding has already received ten orders for the FF1200 from BP and Talisman Energy. The first craft will be delivered to Talisman`s YME development project in third-quarter 2009. Schat-Harding is the world’s leading supplier and authorised service provider for lifeboat and evacuation systems for the offshore, cruise and shipping industries. With factories and offices in Norway, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Panama, Singapore, Spain, Canada, the Czech Republic, the USA and China, and agents in thirty other countries, Schat-Harding provides a global service and supply network. Brands now owned by Schat-Harding include Watercraft, Viking Marine, Waterman, Fiskars, Davit-Company, MASECO, Watercraft America, William Mills Marine, Schat, Harding, Mulder & Rijke and the Beiyang Boatbuilding Co. In addition Schat-Harding is now authorised by almost all the world’s lifeboat manufacturers to provide OEM servicing in accordance with the requirements of MSC1206.