Successful sea trails of hybrid FSIV

The FSIV2000 has been developed for the combined transport of deck cargo and passengers to and from offshore oil fields. Optionally, the yard also offers a variety of below-decks tank configurations for the transport of liquid cargo. The FSIV is available for a wide variety of applications, with deadweight capacities from 200 up to 400 tonnes. Custom designed by De Hoop to stringent environmental control, the 55m-long and 9m-wide FSIV is constructed primarily for very low fuel consumption. The vessel is powered by a hybrid diesel-direct/diesel-electric system.

At low speed and during manoeuvring, only the portside diesel engine will be used to drive the generator. The generator, in turn, delivers power, via a DC-bus switchboard, to the two electric motors that drive the propeller shafts through the gearboxes. The maximum speed in diesel-electric mode is 13 knots.

At higher speeds, both Caterpillar 3516 diesel engines will engage with the gearboxes to provide up to 2,350kW at 1,800 rpm each, directly to the two propellers. In diesel-direct mode, the two fixed pitch ducted propellers are capable of producing up to 3.7mW with 200 tonnes payload in total, achieving a maximum speed of 21.3 knots with these particular propellers. Optional, De Hoop also offers a configuration with fast (high rpm) propellers, providing a maximum speed of over 25 knots. In this configuration, the gain in speed, however, will slightly decrease the characteristic speed-keeping-aspect, the shipbuilder noted.