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You are here: Home > Marine > Marine news > 2005 > UT ship design passes milestone with 500th order
One of the most successful design stories in the history of commercial shipbuilding reached a major milestone this week - with the placing of the 500th order for a Rolls-Royce UT vessel.
The Rolls-Royce UT-Design has been around for over 30 years with the very first ship of the class still in service, operating in West African waters. The latest version will enter service with the Norwegian ship owner Island Offshore.
Built to service oil rigs in the developing North Sea oil and gas fields of the 1970s, other versions of the basic design have also proved to be just as adaptable in the search for new reserves.
Rolls-Royce marine architects design each UT vessel to a specific customer's requirements. The ships are sold as complete systems and fitted with a range of Rolls-Royce manufactured equipment which can include diesel engines, rudders, propellers, thrusters and powerful deck winches. In addition, the company can supply automation and control systems fitted in the ship's bridge.
Jørn Heltne, Director of Ship Technology - Offshore, said: "The 500th order for the UT-Design is a unique event for us in Rolls-Royce. No one else is even close to having developed 500 offshore vessels. The UT concept has a unique position in our business. If anyone mentions UT, everyone in the offshore industry knows what it is."
The Marine business of Rolls-Royce employs 7,000 people in 34 countries with the main manufacturing centres being in the UK, the Nordic countries, the United States and increasingly Asia.
The 500th UT vessel, designated UT 787CD, will be built by the Norwegian shipbuilder Aker Yards. The customer for the 500th vessel is the Norwegian ship owner Island Offshore, which will operate the ship on anchor handling duties in the offshore oil and gas industry. The vessel has the capability to position equipment on the seabed in any ocean depth.
Since 1974, UT vessels have been built by yards in 22 countries across the globe. 265 have been built in Norway, 37 in India, 30 in Brazil, 28 in Korea and 23 in Singapore.
The first UT design vessel was ordered in 1974 by a ship owner now known as Farstad Shipping. The vessel was an anchor-handling ship named Stad Scotsman. This vessel is still active as the renamed Seabulk Condor, owned by Seabulk Offshore, and currently operating for Philips Petroleum in West African waters.
Supply and anchor-handling vessels are still the most common ships to be ordered in the UT design, but in addition special variants have been developed for surveillance, coastguard duties, cable laying, seismology, oil-well intervention, operations on the sea floor, and for use in Arctic waters.
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Craig Taylor
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