FEBRUARY 5, 2013 — Invented and developed by Schiedam, Netherlands, based Barge Master bv, the Barge Master is a motion compensating heavy load platform. By allowing safe working in more extreme sea conditions, the Barge Master promises to open up a range of new offshore supply and installation solutions.

Working with GeoSea, part of Belgium's DEME group, Barge Master has just completed the final offshore test in a series of tests involving its newly built BM-001 platform (see earlier story).

GeoSea is a fast growing company specializing in complex offshore marine construction projects and has participated in the construction of a number of large-scale offshore wind farms. Its jack-up platforms include Neptune, Goliath, Vagant, Buzzard, Zeebouwer, Halewijn, Tijl II, and Kobe and are assigned to projects in the North Sea, the Middle East and Australia.

GeoSea believes that the use of the Barge Master system will be beneficial to its offshore supply and installation methodologies, and therefore will benefit their customers.

Barge Master and GeoSea say that thorough testing has now successfully proven the practicability of motion compensated installation and supply work, showing compensation percentages of over 95 percent of the barge movements in all test configurations.

The final test involved an offshore supply operation involving GeoSea's jack up barge, Goliath and Barge Master's newly built BM-001 platform mounted on a standard North Sea barge. An offshore supply scenario was staged in the concession zone of the future wind farm, Rentel, in the Belgian North Sea.

During an earlier test in the Dutch North Sea parties successfully tested the motion compensated installation solution involving a standard crawler crane mounted on the BM-001 platform, which in its turn was mounted on a standard North Sea barge.

Testing the motion compensated supply methodology within the Rentel wind farm concession zone in the Belgian North Sea.