A crew boat, also called a crewboat, crew transfer vessel, fast support vessel, fast supply vessel or fast intervention supply vessel, is a vessel specialized in the transport of offshore support personnel, deck cargo, and below-deck cargo such as fuel and

potable water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

to and from offshore installations such as

oil platforms An oil platform (also called an oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, etc.) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platforms wi ...

drilling rigs A drilling rig is an integrated system that Drilling, drills wells, such as oil or water wells, or holes for piling and other construction purposes, into the earth's subsurface. Drilling rigs can be massive structures housing equipment used to ...

, drill and dive ships or

wind farms A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...

. Crew boats range in size from small, vessels working on bays, sounds and inland waterways to vessels that work as much as offshore. Crew boats typically are constructed of aluminum and offshore vessels are most often powered by four-six turbo-charged diesel engines and propelled by conventional ship's screws or water jets. In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, crew boats may carry any number of passengers up to the maximum noted on the vessel's

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

certificate of inspection. For most offshore crew boats, the maximum number of passengers, accommodated in airline-style seats, is between 50 and 100. In the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

, crew boats often range from 18 m through to 50 m. A common size is the 42 m crew boat. Crew boats typically are crewed at any given time by two licensed

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

who each stand 12-hour watches, a deckhand or

ordinary seaman __NOTOC__ An ordinary seaman (OS) is a member of the deck department of a ship. The position is an apprenticeship to become an able seaman, and has been for centuries. In modern times, an OS is required to work on a ship for a specific amount ...

, and an unlicensed engineer who also is responsible for some deck duties during his or her watch. Crew members live aboard the vessel during their assigned rotations of duty (14-,21- and 28-day rotations are common in the United States), called "hitches" in the marine transportation industry. Offshore crew boats are equipped with full galleys, dining areas, heads with showers, and staterooms for the crew. Overnight accommodations for passengers usually are not provided aboard crew boats.

Notable crew boats

''Ms. Netty'', a crew boat delivered to Gulf Offshore Logistics by builder Gulf Craft in 2012, is reportedly the world's largest

monohull right A monohull is a type of boat having only one hull, unlike multihulled boats which can have two or more individual hulls connected to one another. Fundamental concept Among the earliest hulls were simple logs, but these were generally unstab ...

crew boat. Ms. Netty boasts of clear deck space and can carry of water and of transferable fuel, as well as 74 passengers. ''Ms. Nett''y boasts a top speed of 33

knots A knot is a fastening in rope or interwoven lines. Knot or knots may also refer to: Other common meanings * Knot (unit), of speed * Knot (wood), a timber imperfection Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Knots'' (film), a 2004 film * ''Kn ...

. ''Seacor Cheetah'', a

catamaran A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hull (watercraft), hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is requi ...

was delivered by Gulf Craft to

Seacor Holdings SEACOR Holdings, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, provides equipment and services to the offshore petroleum industry and the marine transportation industry. An American corporation, the company holds a 70% ownership stake in a bioethanol plant ...

, Inc., in March 2008. This crew boat offers a top speed in excess of 40 knots and can carry up to 150 passengers, as well as of deck cargo. ''Mr. Steven'', a crew boat that is equipped with a net to attempt to recover the

payload fairing A payload fairing or nose fairing is a nose cone used to protect a launch vehicle, spacecraft payload (air and space craft), payload against the impact of dynamic pressure and aerodynamic heating during launch through an atmosphere. An additiona ...

used in

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

rocket launches. ''Tamimi 6'', a crew boat delivered to High Seas Marine & Industrial by

Dubai, UAE Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

builder Grandweld in 2021, won the award from Baird Maritime Awards for Best OSV - Medium Crewboat in 2021.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Boats