Xervo Announces Several New Orders

The Danish davit manufacturer Xervo will provide its top-quality lifeboats, Boat-In-A-Box, to several Maersk Drilling projects. It will deliver lifeboat and rescue boat systems to the soon-to-be completed fourth rig in the XLE series, which will be the world’s largest jack-up rig ever, as well as lifeboats to a retrofit project on the Maersk Innovator.

Maersk Drilling has chosen to equip its soon-to-be completed XL Enhanced 4 rig with seven Boat-In-A-Box lifeboat and rescue boat systems from the Danish company Xervo. The system was developed in line with NORSOK R-002 standards and meets those standards, which was one of the reasons that Maersk Drilling chose Xervo.

”Over the years, we’ve put a lot of emphasis on improving safety on our rigs, and Xervos lifeboats are in a class by themselves.  We are proud to put Maersk Drilling on the map as one of the pioneers within safety by building our rigs after NORSOK standards even before the rules go into effect,” says Frederik Smidth, CTO at Maersk Drilling.

The XLE rig is the world’s largest jack-up rig, and at the moment Maersk Drilling is building the fourth in the series at Daewoo Shipbuilding (DSME) in South Korea. The rig, with legs that are more than 200m long, will be able to operate in water depths of up to 150m. The 180 people housed on the rig will be able to work at previously unseen heights, which will create even greater demands on the lifeboat systems’ construction.

Xervo has also delivered lifeboat systems to the other XLE projects.  The first rig in the series has just been delivered.

”It’s been an exciting assignment to work on.  Via a comprehensive development co-operation with Maersk Drilling, KeppelFELS and DNV, we’ve set new standards for safety levels and reliability on this project. That’s why it’s very satisfying for us that we’ve been able to deliver systems to the world’s largest shipyard, and that both delivery and commissioning have been problem-free and gone according to plan. We can now document an uptime for the system of over 99.98%, and we look forward to carrying forward all of the experiences we’ve gained here onto the next XLE project,” says Esben Juul Sørensen, CEO at Xervo.

Retrofit on Maersk Innovator
Maersk Drilling also chose Xervo as a supplier on the Maersk Innovator rig, which operates in the Norwegian part of the North Sea.  The rig, which is leased by ConocoPhillips, needs to replace its lifeboat systems in order to meet the new, stricter regulations, and the changes will have to be made while the rig is operational.  
 
”We’re very pleased with the trust Maersk Drilling has shown us by placing these orders. It’s part of our DNA that we are constantly improving our skills and using our experience to improve our products. We have carried out this type of operation before, and every time we do it we learn a lot that we can use on future projects.  It’s an advantage that Xervo is part of a larger company SH Group, so that we’re prepared to deliver turn-key solutions and commission them offshore,” says Esben Juul Sørensen.