In 2013 GE Power Conversion awarded MES the contract for the supply and installation of turnkey navigation, communication and internal communications packages on board 6 new build drillships to be built by Enseada do Paraguaçu Shipyard (EEP). These vessels are to be operated up to 300 km off the coast of Brazil, in water depths up to 2 km and drill down to rock formations up to 5 km below the seabed in what is known as the pre-salt layer. These ultra-deepwater drillships are vital to the exploration of oil and gas by Brazilian energy corporation Petrobras.
The first vessel to be built to the GustoMSC PRD 12000 design is to be named NS Ondina and MES has worked very closely with GE Power Conversion and EEP on the detailed technical design for this vessel. The technical design covers many areas of the vessel from bridge layout; including console arrangement and equipment location, to internal and external antenna layout; ranging from the location of GMDSS VHF antennas to the location of internal UHF communication antennas, and also Dual redundant Public Address / General Alarm system design; including in depth guidance on speaker quantities, locations and appropriate types in accordance with the latest IMO, ABS and end user requirements.
The drillships will be fitted with the MES Navigation Distribution and Conning System (NDACS) in addition to the Kelvin Hughes Manta Digital range of ECDIS and radars. The NDACS is a development of what has been fitted to the Irish Navy and Royal Navy Offshore Patrol Vessels, which itself is a development of the system fitted to the Swedish Battalion Hovercraft and Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) vessels.
MES has partnered with GE on several other projects in the past including PSV’s and 2 pipelaying vessels.