Longitude, the engineering and design branch of LOC Group, is pleased to announce the expansion of its jack-up rig engineering team to offer expertise in seismic and liquefaction analysis.
This expansion follows the appointment of specialists in this area – David Gwede, as lead Geotechnical Engineer to Longitude in Newcastle, and Zahidur Rahman as Senior Consultant and Naval Architect, specialising in jack-up vessels, based in London.
The expansion is particularly relevant to support installation operations of offshore wind farms by jack-up vessels in the Asian market, where the geotechnical characteristics and seismic hazards pose a unique risk.
Longitude offers a broad range of structural and geotechnical assessment services supporting jack-up moving operations, windfarm feasibility studies and site selection, export and inner array cable routing, BAS and CBRA, turbine concept and detailed foundation design, amongst others. Longitude also provides geotechnical and foundation training courses to jack-up vessel owners, which have proved popular for client internal training requirements.
This expansion reflects Longitude’s, and the wider LOC Group’s, commitment to developing in-house specialised expertise in line with market needs, recognising seismic risk to offshore wind projects in the Asian market.
Commenting, Paul Miles, Group Director of Rigs, said:
“Expanding the Company’s offering is part of our continued focus on delivering turn-key solutions for our clients. Given the risk of operating jack-ups in the Asian windfarm market, adding this specialist expertise is a significant benefit to clients.”
David Bignold, Director, and Andy Butler, Naval Architect, at Longitude Engineering, added:
“Being able to offer expertise in seismic and liquefaction analysis, alongside our other services, to the operators of vessels installing offshore windfarms in Asia is a significant benefit to them and a strong differentiator for Longitude and the wider LOC Group, especially with the risk to Jack Up operations being a primary concern for T&I contractors. The windfarm industry in Asia has experienced strong growth in recent years, which is expected to continue, and as such there remains an unmet need for vessel operators to access this expertise, easily and efficiently.”
