As marine resource development is moving further offshore and into deep sea regions, there is an increasing demand for multi-purpose offshore support vessels, capable of not only transporting cargo to and from offshore floating facilities, but also covering mooring, installation, and fire fighting operations in a wide variety of offshore environments.

All these matters require new generation offshore support vessels, generally more technically-advanced and with special features. OSV vessels are playing a vital role in different fields, including maintaining and supplying offshore oil and gas operations.

We would like to shed some light on and classify the large number of vessels on the offshore market as follows:

Offshore Supply: Transports and stores materials, equipment and/or personnel (excluding crew boats) to, from and between offshore installations.

Anchor Handling & Towing: Handle anchors of offshore floating installations and/or towing operations.

Firefighting: Carry out firefighting operations.

Diving & ROV Support: Provide support for diving system and underwater remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs).

Oil Spill Recovery: Recover oil from the water and near shorelines in response to an oil spill in the marine environment.

Safety Standby Rescue: Adapted with special features for evacuating and receiving personnel from an offshore installation, these vessels are also used in the rescue and care of people from another vessel at sea.

Pipe Laying: Used in subsea pipeline installations.

Heavy Lift: Lift heavy loads in oil drilling and production operations, offshore construction and/or salvage operations. Heavy lift OSVs have a lifting capacity of 160 metric tons and above.

Well Intervention, Stimulation & Test: Designed and equipped, either permanently or temporarily, to carry out well intervention, well stimulation and/or well test services.

Escort: Provide assistance to disabled vessels in emergencies involving impaired maneuverability due to loss of propulsion or steering or both.

Wind Turbine Installation, Maintenance & Repair: Used for installing, maintaining and repairing wind turbines.

Below, you find additional notes clarifying specialized service terminology:

Supply: Platform Supply

Supply-HNLS: Supply-Hazardous and Noxious Liquid Substances