Photo from ALP Publicity

I have been trying to compile a complete record of all the designs in service of all the offshore support vessel designers, but it is something of a task and I had intended to work up to the new stuff at the end of a long list of previous stuff. But here is a bit of a short circuit because the SX157 is quite important. In thorns of the Ulstein  Verft numbering it seems that "A" stands for anchor-handling, "P" stand for platform and "S" stands for special. But even though the The ALP Striker is an "S" it could easily be an "A", and is only the second anchor-handler design to enter service from this design house. The first was the AX104 in 2006. And was the first XBow to enter service.

So the SX157 of which four are being built in Japan for ALP, is a substantial craft, said to be capable of very long distance towing without refuelling. Is it just me, or have the designers set the bridge a bit further back and given the XBow a bit more of a curve. A sensible move I should think.