BIBBY OFFSHORE

Bibby Line was established in 1807 in Liverpool, and it was well known to all British seafarers in the heyday of the UK liner fleets. The fleet was named after English counties and after the Second world war the company was to remain profitable due it its troop ship contracts with the UK government. In the 1960s the company joined with other British ship-owners in the search for new trade and joined a consortium of bulk carrier owners, and in addition built some LPG carriers. By the late 1970s the trade recession was having a seriously adverse effect on all international trade and Bibby were forced to sell a number of ships. And in 1980 their ore carrier Derbyshire was lost. It just disappeared on a voyage to Japan, and has become one of Britain's most famous shipwrecks.

The company entered the offshore industry in the 1980s when it took an interest in Consafe then an accommodation unit operator. This was not entirely successful. The company retains a variety of interests in shipping and related activities, and for this site the area of interest is Bibby Offshore Ltd, which set up an office in Aberdeen in 2003, and became a separate entity within the group in 2007.

In addition to the three ships shown here Bibby have the Toisa Polaris and the Nor Spring on hire.

In September 2013 Bibby gained the management contract for the BP 'Jigsaw' fleet, of which much has been written on this site over the years. This small fleet of offshore support vessels is soon to be joined by a number of BP owned platform ships, and so a page has been set up for the BP fleet.

Since the last review the company has purchased the Toisa Polaris and has renamed the Nor Spring to Bibby Spring, however this vessel still appears to be owned by Solstad. They also now have the Mermaid Endurer and the Olympic Aries on hire.

At the time of the 2015 review nothing much seems to have changed for Bibby, except possibly the change of the Jigsaw ships from emergency ships to standard platform ships. This may well mean that they no longer manage them. But in any case they are all on the BP page.

Reviewed 28th September 2015.

TYPE: ST 253L		NAME: BIBBY SAPPHIRE		PHOTO: Vic Gibson

GENERAL		PROPULSION		EQUIPMENT
Length OA	94.0 m	Engines	4 x Wartsila 6L32	Workdrum pull
Breadth	22.0 m	BHP	15660	Capacity 1
DWT	2800 t	kW	11520	Capacity 2
Deck area	800 m2	For'd Thruster	2 x 2000 kW	Accomm beds	185
Fuel	1500 m3	Az Thruster	2 x 2200 kW	Flexible Capacity	-
Pot water	430 m3	Aft Thruster prop	2 x 3000 kW	ROVs	1 x observation
Mud		Bollard pull	-	Sharks Jaw	-
Brine		DP	K-POS DP III	Cranes	1 x 150 t
Dry bulk		Joystick		Dive System Capcty	18 persons
Year built	2005	Shipyard	Aker Langsten	Dive System Depth
Previous names	-
Comments	-

TYPE: ST 256L		NAME: BIBBY TOPAZ		PHOTO: Jim Pottinger

GENERAL		PROPULSION		EQUIPMENT
Length OA	106.6 m	Engines	4 x Wartsila 6L32	Workdrum pull
Breadth	22.0 m	BHP	15660	Capacity 1
DWT	5337 t	kW	11520	Capacity 2
Deck area	900 m2	For'd Thruster	2 x 2000 kW	Accomm beds	105
Fuel	2441 m3	Az Thruster	2 x 2200 kW	Flexible Capacity	-
Pot water	666.7m3	Aft Thruster prop	2 x 3000 kW	ROVs	1 x L.Work
Mud		Bollard pull	-	Sharks Jaw	-
Brine		DP	K-POS DP III	Cranes	1 x 150 t
Dry bulk		Joystick		Dive System Capcty	18 persons
Year built	2008	Shipyard	Aker Langsten	Dive System Depth
Previous names	-
Comments	-

TYPE:		NAME: Bibby Polaris		PHOTO: Vic Gibson

GENERAL		PROPULSION		EQUIPMENT
Length OA	113.57 m	Engines	4 x Wartsila 9L26	Workdrum pull	-
Breadth	22 m	BHP	14580	Capacity 1	-
DWT	5500 t	kW	10720 kW	Capacity 2	-
Deck area	700 m2	For'd Thruster	3 x 1335 kW	Accomm berths	98
Fuel	1300 m3	Az Thruster	-	Storage capacity	1 carousel
Pot water	460 m3	Aft Thrusters	2 x 2200 kW	ROV	-
Mud	-	Bollard pull	-	Diving Capability	18 Men
Brine	-	DP II	Simrad SDP 21	Cranes	1 x 150 t
Dry bulk	-	Joystick		Tank cleaning	-
Year built/due	1999			Shipyard	-
Previous names	Toisa Polaris
Comments	-

TYPE:		NAME: BIBBY AQUAMARINE		PHOTO:
		Photo Required
GENERAL		PROPULSION		EQUIPMENT
Length OA	83.0 m	Engines	4 x Wartsila 9L32	Workdrum pull
Breadth	16.02 m	BHP	-	Capacity 1
DWT	1500 t	kW	-	Capacity 2
Deck area	275 m2	For'd Thruster	1 x ??bhp	Accomm beds	73
Fuel	809 m3	Az Thruster	1 x ??bhp	Flexible Capacity	-
Pot water	273 m3	Aft Thruster prop	2 x ?? bhp	ROVs	1 x observation
Mud		Bollard pull	-	Sharks Jaw	-
Brine		DP II	Kongsberg SDP 521	Cranes	1 x 50t
Dry bulk		Joystick		Dive System Capcty	12 divers
Year built	1981	Shipyard	Wartsila Turku	Dive System Depth
Previous names	Shearwater Aquamarine, Blackgold Aquamarine, Dynamic Aquamarine, Aquamarine
Comments	Sold to Marine Engineering Diving Services and renamed Altus Exertus