Bluestream Offshore has ordered a fourth Saab Seaeye Panther XT Plus ROV to undertake tasks normally performed by hydraulic vehicles.

“Our clients want high-spec equipment to take on more complex construction work at a lower cost,” says Bluestream’s managing director, Rolf de Vries.

“For instance, we have proved that many construction tasks can be undertaken by a Seaeye Panther XT Plus fitted with Schilling manipulators combined with hydraulic powered ROV tooling, rather than an complex capital intensive hydraulic ROV system.”

An electric work ROV system also needs less space, fewer staff and is much faster to deploy, de Vries explains, which bring considerable savings in operational costs when compared to a large hydraulic work class ROV.

Furthermore, de Vries believes Saab Seaeye system architecture offers a solid base for adding more system options as well as enabling his engineers to further integrate his company’s own developed technology for subsea intervention tooling into the system development. “We believe in evolution, step by step, project by project, to develop us further instead of revolution.”

The addition of another Panther now brings Bluestream’s fleet of ROVs to 17 Saab Seaeye vehicles.