Here at Commercial Rib Charter we are able to offer a wide variety of vessels for a multitude of different jobs.
A large proportion of our fleet are shallow draft vessels, with some being able to operate in as little as 80cm of water. Coupled with waterjet drives, this means precise positioning of the vessel in demanding situations is possible. Our 20m dive support vessel, CRC Sentinel, showed this capability off last year whilst laying its 4-point anchor spread just meters from a beach during the cable landing for an offshore wind farm. Our Master had to position the boat in a precise box with only a few meters tolerance in order for divers to safely access the buried cable.
Much of the work that our boats undertake is located in inshore worksites where water as shallow as 0.8m can be expected during low tide. As most traditional aluminium CTV’s have a draft of 1.5-2.0 meters they simply wouldn’t be able to operate in the same way as our vessels can. We have also been successful in providing the traditional requirements and comforts expected of offshore vessels on our Cabin Ribs, such as safe transfer platforms with push-on bows, suspension seating for 12 passengers, and full WC/galley facilities.
Our extensive fleet of outboard driven Ribs also have the ability to work in these shallow environments thanks to their fully trimmable Suzuki outboard engines and in some cases these are capable of going as shallow as 60cm.
With the ever-growing emphasis on renewable energy and interconnector power links between countries, more and more of these shallow inshore projects are on the horizon. With the Viking Link interconnector between the UK and Denmark and extensions upcoming on many Offshore Wind Farms, we are expecting to see a big increase in demand for Shallow Draft work boats, and Shallow Draft crew Transfer vessels in the coming years.
