The system features a flap at the gangway tip, which replaces the conventional docking head employed for landings on fixed structures.
LiDAR-based relative motion tracking data is sent to the gangway's motion compensation system in real time, maintaining a controlled connection as both vessels move, according to MacGregor.
Prateek Sadhana, product owner of Walk-to-Work Gangways, said this capability avoids the need for service campaigns to be routed around port calls, while walk-to-work access between vessels can be based on the field’s schedule.
“In the renewables sector, this supports the service logistics that floating wind operations demand—where there is no fixed structure to land on whatsoever,” he said.
The system can be retrofitted/upgraded to existing Horizon gangways, the company added, with no need for a separate qualification process.
“Certification matters commercially as well as technically,” Sadhana explained. “It gives owners, charterers and insurers an independently verified basis for planning vessel-to-vessel operations, and it gives crews the confidence that the equipment they cross has been designed, tested and certified for exactly this use.”
The certification broadens the range of offshore applications for motion-compensated gangway technology, extending its use beyond traditional fixed-platform access and into vessel-to-vessel operations across both energy and maritime sectors.
MacGregor is presenting the F2F capability at booth 5540, Hall 5, and DNV is exhibiting at booth 9410 at the Offshore Northern Seas (ONS) event this week in Stavanger, Norway.
