Safety Award for Ampelmann
The Dutch offshore company Ampelmann Operations has received the prestigious International Safety at Sea Award in London last Thursday. The prize is awarded for the pioneering contributions to working more safely at sea. Sir Alan Massey presented the Award. The jury praised Ampelmann for the successful introduction of a revolutionary system that greatly increases the safety of offshore transfer compared to for instance basket transfer.
The jury also commented that introduction of Ampelmann systems for transferring pilots would be a welcome next step. The Ampelmann is a system for safe transfer from a vessel to offshore wind turbines or oilrigs. The system resembles an inverted flight simulator with six cylinders that counteract the motions of the vessel it is installed on to keep a gangway completely stationary relative to the offshore structure. In this way crew can walk across safely, even at high wave conditions. “Safety is the core of our product”, says CEO Jan van der Tempel. “We are proud of the growing number of customers that use the Ampelmann in their offshore operations and honoured with this prestigious award.”
Ampelmann Operations
Ampelmann Operations is a spin-off of the Delft University of Technology. Since 2008 Ampelmann rents the systems worldwide. Currently six systems are in operation from America to Australia having enabled over 40,000 safe transfers. The main activities for which Ampelmann systems are used include installation and maintenance of offshore wind turbines and the construction and maintenance of oil and gas platforms. Since 2010, the systems have also been upgraded to enable to a vessel to vessel transfer.