Charting waters, marking milestones: Ampelmann is prepared for 2024

After a year of sustained global growth, Ampelmann looks back on 12 months of innovations, developments and milestones. 2023 saw both consolidation and expansion as the company established a foothold in familiar and new markets and sectors throughout the world. Ampelmann continued with the development of new systems and services in response to the growing demand for safe offshore access.

As Jan van der Tempel, Ampelmann’s CEO and founder, says: “This year is proving to be the watershed moment in time where the world has rediscovered offshore energy at large as the cornerstone of its supply. And the world has embraced the core need to transition that supply. The key steps are: more secure, more green. In that order. And Ampelmann is providing the gateways to those steps: rocksteady in choppy waters. Because choppy it will remain for the years to come. Transition is change.”

Global growth: Markets and milestones

Throughout the world, from the Americas to Asia Pacific, from Europe to Africa and the Middle East, Ampelmann’s gangway systems were hard at work, maximising the safety and efficiency of offshore operations.

In late November the company celebrated a key milestone, as it exceeded 10 million personnel transfers. With more than 650 projects completed and a growing fleet of close to 70 systems, W2W has become widely adopted around the world. A testament, not only to the global success of Ampelmann as a company, but to the safety and efficiency motion compensated gangways bring to the offshore energy market.

In addition to the milestone of personnel transfers, Ampelmann surpassed 30 million kilogrammes of cargo transferred. Representative of the increasing importance of the company’s cargo hoisting systems such as the E1000 and the A300, the growing number of scopes in the offshore wind sector are largely responsible for a tripling of the cargo transfers in just four years.

As in the previous year, business in Brazil was particularly strong. Motion compensated systems have become a familiar feature of the Brazilian offshore energy market. In response to the increased demand for the company’s gangways and in anticipation of the growth of both the offshore O&G and wind markets, Ampelmann expanded the team in Rio de Janeiro to better serve its local client base. With a localised team that includes maintenance and operations, Ampelmann aims to deepen its involvement in this important market.

Continuing the trend of 2022, the company further extended its foothold in the global offshore wind sector. In both Taiwan and the USA, business has been growing steadily in the past two years as a consequence of the increased efforts of governments and businesses to reach ambitious regional and national wind targets. To support the expansion of these emergent wind markets and better support local operations, Ampelmann opened new offices in both countries.

In the USA, where commercialised offshore wind is taking off, Ampelmann opened two offices in 2023, one in Boston, Massachusetts and one in Providence, Rhode Island. Throughout the year, six gangway systems facilitated construction, cabling and commissioning work on Southfork and Vineyard windfarms. This also included the first commercial project of the A300. Based on a combination of the proven technology of the E1000 and the company’s flagship A-type, this gangway can hoist up to 300kg of cargo in sea states up to 3m Hs.

Marking four years of operations in the Taiwanese wind sector, Ampelmann gangways were operational on four different wind farms in the Formosa Strait. Having gained considerable experience working with different clients and developers, the company opened an office in Taipei from which it is laying the foundation to facilitate the growth of the nascent offshore wind sector in the wider region. As the first fixed and floating turbines will be constructed in Japan and South Korea in the near future, Ampelmann expects an increase in the demand for its systems in East Asia.

Like the previous years, Ampelmann’s involvement in the European offshore wind sector remained strong. Ampelmann’s operations were marked by continuity as the company strengthened its position in the North Sea energy market. Deepening its experience in the wider renewable energy market, the company successfully established itself within the emergent floating wind sector.

Work on the largest commercial floating wind farm in the world, Hywind Tampen , started in full swing in early January. Throughout the year, two E1000s were simultaneously providing safe access to the turbines, including during the winter period, when the already rough Norwegian Seas are at their most tumultuous. Ampelmann’s innovative gangway design, based on the hexapod, proved instrumental in providing consistent and reliable offshore access. As the company’s gangways can compensate for motions in six degrees of freedom, the challenges caused by the divergent motions of the floating structure and the vessel can be reduced to a bare minimum, leading to enhanced safety and extended weather windows.

Continuous improvement

Ampelmann is always innovating and 2023 was no exception. In the past year, new ideas, concepts and improvements to the fleet were developed.

Building on the successes of last year, Ampelmann sold a total of 9 W-types - the company’s sustainable access solution specifically tailored to the SOV market. This tower system is the first fully electrically controlled gangway within its class and is poised to set a new benchmark for energy efficiency. Built according to the principles of modularity, the first three gangways are expected to be delivered in the coming year and will widen and deepen the company’s involvement in the SOV market.

As a consequence of the growing demand for access to floating facilities and structures, such as FPSOs, semi-submersibles and floating wind turbines, Ampelmann initiated sea trials with the aim of studying and improving such operations. New procedures and landing zone designs were developed to improve the efficiency of the fleet’s Ship to Ship (S2S) capabilities and further enhance their effectiveness while dealing with complex motions in the open sea.

Ampelmann also kickstarted the development of several non-gangway related services and technologies for the offshore energy sector. One of these are cargo delivery drones that will provide operations on offshore wind farms with additional means to transport tools and equipment. These heavy-duty drones will increase the tool time of technicians and reduce the time spent transferring cargo loads by servicing wind turbines directly from the vessel without the use of a gangway. Commercial exploitation permits and certifications have already been awarded to the company and the first offshore trials with drones, starting at 40kg of payload capacity, are set to commence in the first half of 2024.

With exciting new technologies, systems and services just beyond the horizon, Jan van der Tempel, looks forward to 2024 and beyond: “These are exciting times to be working offshore! Striking a balance between more hands on tool time and fewer hands offshore. It is in these paradoxes we find ourselves developing technologies and services. And doing so in deeper collaboration with customers and suppliers. We clearly see that in the core of the Walk to Work market Ampelmann created, the modular approach is paying its dividends. And we see our Loonshot approach to non-gangway innovations unlock potential to create new markets. New, cool stuff and still: Offshore…. as easy as crossing the street.”