VESSEL REVIEW | Cromarty Sentinel – Chinese-built standby vessel for Scotland’s Sentinel Marine

Scottish vessel operator Sentinel Marine has taken delivery of a new emergency response and rescue vessel (ERRV) built by Fujian South East Shipyard in China. Named Cromarty Sentinel, the ABS-classed newbuild will be operated out of Aberdeen in serving customers in the UK North Sea.

The ERRV has an LOA of 60 metres, a beam of 15.8 metres, a maximum draught of 5.2 metres, and a summer deadweight of 1,723 tonnes. The open aft deck has an area of 300 square metres and can accommodate cargo totalling 500 tonnes.

Power is provided by a pair of Niigata 6L26HLX engines that drive azimuthing propellers. This configuration delivers a maximum speed of 14 knots and a service speed of 10 knots. A 521kW tunnel thruster at the bow provides additional manoeuvring power for use in close quarters.

The vessel has a Kongsberg Maritime joystick-controlled DP2 system and equipment that will allow it to perform the secondary function of oil spill recovery. Up to 377.5 cubic metres of recovered oil can be stored in an onboard dedicated tank.

The ERRV is adequately equipped for the rescue role with a Palfinger Marine 15-person fast boat, two rescue zones, and a six-person basket. The firefighting equipment meanwhile consists of a fixed water spray system and two foam/water monitors with a 120-metre throw distance and a discharge rate of 1,200 cubic metres per hour. For anti-pollution duties, the vessel relies on a five-cubic-metre chemical dispersant tank, spray nozzles, and a displacement pump with a flowrate of 133 litres per minute.

A second Palfinger Marine 15-person boat will operate primarily as a daughter craft. Like the fast rescue boat, it will be launched into and recovered from the water with the aid of a dedicated davit with constant tension and shock-absorbing capability.

Accommodations are available for 34 crew and other personnel, though up to 92 rescued survivors can be housed on board. The survivor areas are built to UK, Danish, and Dutch guidelines and include a fully fitted treatment room, a hypothermia bath, two recovery areas, and designated sanitary areas.

The crew accommodation spaces meanwhile four single cabins, seven double cabins, and four quadruple cabins. All crew cabins have en suite toilets as well as satellite TV and internet connectivity.

The onboard systems, which also include an ECDIS surface situation reporting system, draw power from two Caterpillar C18 350kW generators and a 99kW emergency generator.

Design work on Cromarty Sentinel was provided by Singapore-based naval architects Khiam Chuan Marine.

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