#MainportKinsale - Afloat first reported of Ocean Spey operating at the Kinsale Gas Field last Wednesday and now it can be confirmed the standby supply support vessel is to be reflagged under the Irish tricolour having been acquired by Mainport Group, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The 1,864 tonnes Ocean Spey had been based at Aberdeen (see photo) the 'oil' capital of Scotland until she sailed six weeks ago to Cork Harbour, homeport of the Mainport Group.
The 66m long Ocean Spey has yet to be given a customary company ‘tree’ suffix themed name i.e. Mainport Cedar (harking back to the Irish Shipping Ltd fleet era). The vessel is currently offshore of the pair of gas rig platforms, Kinsale Alpha and Bravo some 50kms offshore of the Cork coastline.
Ocean Spey is a Norwegian 2000 year built vessel with anchor handling capacity that replaced Mainport’s standby supply ship, Pearl. This 1,579 grt vessel has served the Kinsale Gasfield since 1985.
Mainport provides the newcomer, Ocean Spey to serve at the PSE Kinsale GasField offshore gas installation which has changed hands since gas extraction began in the late 1970’s. A Mainport subsidiary, Seahorse having then begun operations with albeit smaller vessels the Seahorse Minder and Seahorse Supplier.
Some three weeks ago, Pearl was stood down and destored at her usual berth at Ringaskiddy. The 65m vessel then relocated the short distance across Cork Harbour to where the vessel remains alongside Cork Dockyard. There was an interim period when Mainport deployed Celtic Isle of subsidiary Celtic Tugs at the gasfield prior to the introduction of Ocean Spey.
Also recently in Cork Harbour, Mainport Cedar, as previously reported on Afloat back in 2014, was the first of a pair of newbuild Malaysian built seismic-survey vessels delivered to Mainport of the previous year. Notably earlier this year the vessel was detained during a charter for a UN World Food Programme mission to war-torn Yemen.
This was Mainport Cedar's first ever call to Cork Harbour and this was due to maintenance requirements in between sailing from the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. The work carried out took place at Cork Dockyard in advance of a contract to a seismic company for the oil sector in the Gulf of Mexico as also featured in last Friday’s Seacapes.
The seismic-survey vessel has since departed Cork Harbour on the North Altantic repositioning voyage.
