Partners for the Next Generation Gangway

Barge Master and Bosch Rexroth have jointly introduced an impressive new mo-tion compensated gangway to the offshore wind market. After numerous sim-ulations and virtual tests, the first actually manufactured gangway is currently being tested onshore at the Bosch Rexroth facilities in Boxtel, the Netherlands. At June 21st this location was transformed into a presentation area, where the visitors were informed about the partnership between the two companies, and allowed to have a close look at the complex technology on the demonstrated gangway. Soon, the gangway will be installed on the offshore support vessel VOS Start of fleet operator Vroon. This ship –with the state-of-the-art gangway- will be used to transport technical personal to offshore wind turbines.

Barge Master and Bosch Rexroth demonstrating innovative motion compensated gangway for the offshore industry

Photo: Live demonstation of the Next Generation Gangway

‘Next Generation Gangway’ presented in live onshore demonstration

contact details:

Barge Master B.V.Elvira JansenTel.: +31 10 409 0060e.jansen@barge-master.com

Bosch Rexroth B.V.Vincent StahleckerTel.: +31 411 651 682Vincent.stahlecker@boschrexroth.nl

According to Ad de Brouwer, Director Global Sales Marine & Offshore at Bosch Rexroth who opened the event, the development of the gangway together with Barge Master was a ‘challenging job’. “The latest technologies regarding elec-tric and hydraulic motion control are applied, and we make maximum use of the possibilities offered by the internet of things and Industry 4.0. This results in the highest reliability, lowest maintenance costs and the possibility to predict and subsequently avoid undesired errors or defects.”

Close partnership

Barge Master is a leading company in the field of motion compensation sys-tems. Its CEO, Martijn Koppert, explained that the partnership with Bosch Rex-roth was not a coincidence. “We have been in business with Bosch Rexroth already since 2008. We started in a conventional supplier/customer relation, but this has evolved since the development of the Next Generation Gangway. We formed a Joint Project Team, which results in a far better system. This is proven by the fact that this gangway is an entirely new concept.”

Unique solution

The two Holland-based companies Bosch Rexroth (Boxtel) and Barge Master (Rotterdam) worked in a close cooperation, using each other’s strengths. “Our solution is a unique wave-motion compensating gangway, intended for the safe transfer of people and loads from ship to, for example, offshore wind turbines or oil platforms”, says Martijn Koppert, CEO of Barge Master. “The gangway that is presented here today, will be mounted on a pedestal which holds an integrated elevator, used to transport both people and pallet trolleys from ship deck and levels below, to the level of the gangway – which can be literally at any height.”

Partners for the Next Generation Gangway

Impression of the Gangway with the pedestal with an integrated lift on the Vroon ship.

Open standards

During the presentations that preceded the live demonstration of the gangway, Maarten Kuijpers, Technical Manager at Bosch Rexroth, expressed the need to keep innovating. This is especially important in order to maintain a market lead-ing position in various industries. “Innovation is in our blood. The Bosch Group is responsible for many thousands of innovations in a wide range of business segments: consumer goods, automotive, life and science, but also in marine and offshore markets. Our credo is ‘Fail early, learn fast, innovate’. For us, to succeed and to make the fastest progress, it is important to work with open standards, to enable good ideas to spread out fast.”

Motion Control technology

Boy Biemans, Sales Manager Offshore Projects at Bosch Rexroth, explains why this launch event is so important. “This day offers an excellent opportunity to introduce the system to our business relations, who are dealing with the chal-lenges of working offshore. By showing the gangway in action, we can demon-strate our competences related to applications of this kind. We are very grateful to Vroon, the end-user of this system, that we are allowed to demonstrate their ordered gangway here today.”“The simultaneous linear and rotary movements along multiple axes and high forces involved, makes the applied motion control technology quite complex” according to Biemans. “The gangway consists of telescopic sections, so the length of the gangway can be adjusted to the situation offshore. This telescop-ing is performed by an hydraulic winch system”. ”This next generation gangway is equipped with extremely fast sensors and control technology. Movements of the ship can be translated into ‘counter movements’ of the gangway within milli-seconds. Because of this, the system is able to compensate for wave heights up to 3 meters (Hs), resulting in an operating window that can be up to four times higher than other available systems in the market, making it truly unique.”

As stated by Martijn Koppert, “With this solutions users are able to transfer peo-ple and goods from ship to platform 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, making this solution far better than anything available at the market at this moment. I am confident that, together with Bosch Rexroth, we will optimally serve the offshore wind market with this next generation gangway.”

Partners for the Next Generation Gangway

Partners for the Next Generation Gangway

Partners for the Next Generation Gangway

About Barge Master:

Barge Master is a leading company in the field of motion compensation sys-tems for the offshore industry. Its systems increase the safety and workability of offshore lifting, construction and crew transfer operations by eliminating vessel motions. This enables to work with floating vessels in larger wave heights, solving the offshore industry’s biggest problem: waiting on weather. Project lead times are reduced and planning becomes more reliable, this reduces project costs by a factor 200-300%.

Barge Master develops, supplies and operates motion compensated cranes, platforms, gangways and custom built solutions. Barge Master’s systems are deployed worldwide in service of energy majors, offshore contractors, maritime service providers, dredging companies, shipyards and salvage companies.

Barge Master employs a team of highly skilled and talented people. Their in-depth knowledge of motion compensation technology has resulted in a range of products that are unique, innovative, high performance and reliable.www.barge-master.com

About Bosch Rexroth:

Economical, precise, safe, and energy efficient: drive and control technology from Bosch Rexroth moves machines and systems of any size. The company bundles global application experience in the market segments of Mobile Appli-cations, Machinery Applications and Engineering, and Factory Automation to de-velop innovative components as well as tailored system solutions and services. Bosch Rexroth offers its customers hydraulics, electric drives and controls, gear technology, and linear motion and assembly technology all from one source. With locations in over 80 countries, more than 29,500 associates generated sales rev-enue of approximately 5 billion euros in 2016. To learn more, please visit www.boschrexroth.com

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It em-ploys roughly 390,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2016). Accord-ing to preliminary figures, the company generated sales of 73.1 billion euros in 2016. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, In-dustrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. As a leading IoT company, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, smart cities, connected mobility, and connected industry. It uses its expertise in sen-sor technology, software, and services, as well as its own IoT cloud, to offer its customers connected, cross-domain solutions from a single source. The Bosch Group’s strategic objective is to create solutions for a connected life, and to im-prove quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is “Invented for life.” The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 440 subsid-iaries and regional companies in some 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. The basis for the company’s future growth is its innovative strength. At 120 locations across the globe, Bosch employs 59,000 associates in research and development. Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com, www.iot.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com, www.twitter.com/BoschPresse.