MMA Offshore and IMC Team to Win With Innovation

Design and analysis work under taken by IMC has assisted its long-term client MMA Offshore secure a new contract with ConocoPhillips.

In December last year, MMA Offshore was awarded a five-year contract by ConocoPhillips that will see the company’s platform supply vessel (PSV) Mermaid Inscription, modified to provide both platform supply and static tow services in support of ConocoPhillips’ operations at its Bayu Undan facility in the Timor Sea.

IMC and MMA Offshore developed the conceptual vessel arrangement that would enable the PSV to successfully carry out static tow operations without impacting other operations on the back deck – thereby eliminating the need for a dedicated static tow vessel during offtake operations. Central to the proposed changes was the installation of an additional deck over the existing forward mooring deck to be fitted with an asymmetric, electrically driven, escort winch.

IMC also leveraged its previous experience working with MARIN (the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands), a global leader in hydrodynamic and nautical research and development, to support a simulation of the modified PSV. The simulation served to prove the concept would enable Mermaid Inscription to successfully undertake the range of static tow operations required of the ConocoPhillips operation.

Commenting on the contract with ConocoPhillips MMA’s Managing Director, Mr. Jeff Weber, said: “We are confident that our ability to collaborate with our clients and provide innovative solutions will continue to set us apart in the industry.”

IMC Managing Director Justin McPherson expressed similar sentiment, saying that helping clients’ unlock value in existing tonnage through innovation was always satisfying.

“Given the challenging market conditions currently faced by offshore support vessel operators such as MMA, we were very pleased to be able to engineer a solution that added new operational capability and flexibility to Mermaid Inscription,” he said.

IMC is now completing the design work for the vessel modification.

Mermaid Inscription is an 87 meter DP-2 platform supply vessel delivered to MMA Offshore in early 2013. The diesel-electric vessel was built to firefighting class 1 standards and configured with 1,000m² of open deck cargo capacity as well as under deck bulk storage.