The start of 2011 has seen sales for SOLASOLV® anti-glare, heat rejecting ship blinds and roller screens for navigation bridge and control room windows increase in the offshore oil and gas market.
The screens, which are manufactured by UK based Solar Solve Marine, use a sophisticated solar shade film which protects crew against the effects of sun glare and solar gain whilst offering a 100% completely clear outside view. By rejecting up to 93% of glare they significantly reduce eye-strain ensuring modern computer displays are easier to read, so human errors are less likely to occur. The aluminium inhibitor which is embedded in the specialist shade film rejects up to 87% of the sun’s heat which helps to reduce fatigue by creating a more comfortable and cooler working environment for crew. This also places less need for air-conditioning which means that environmentally conscious fleet owners can benefit from fuel savings while lowering their CO₂ emissions if they install screens at every window on the bridge.
At the beginning of January an order for 6 SOLASAFE® sunscreens was received from Maersk UK for the Maersk Resilient, a 350ft jack up drilling rig which has been specially designed to be 20% more efficient than traditional jack-up rigs. SOLASOLV® screens were required for the operator cabin windows.
Two weeks later an order for 5 SOLASAFE® sunscreens was received from Technip UK for the Deep Constructor, a powerful deepwater pipelay and multipurpose subsea construction vessel capable of working virtually anywhere in the world. Having already supplied screens to the navigation bridge of the offshore vessel these additional screens were for the operator cabin of the main radius crane.
The previous day also saw an order for 3 SOLASAFE® being received from Ocean Rig for the Eirik Raude, a fifth-generation semi-submersible drilling unit built to the Bingo 9000 design. The screens were to be installed at the windows of an operator control room.
Paul Hopkins, Solar Solve’s Sales and Marketing Executive commented, “The offshore sector has proved to be a very good area for the sale of our products at the start of 2011. It appears that the people who use SOLASOLV® sunscreens value their benefits highly and word is spreading about how effective they are as we are receiving more and more orders from this market.”
