How to get engineers on to offshore wind turbines in stormy seas – in pictures

The Nauti-Craft smooths a bumpy journey using a ‘passive reactive’ hydraulic suspension system between the vessel’s four hulls and the deck. The suspension is adapted from rally cars
Photograph: Nauti-Craft/Carbon Trust

The TranSPAR design, nicknamed the ‘seahorse’, has an enormous keel that keeps the vessel very stable in high seas Photograph: TranSPAR/Carbon Trust

The Fjellstrand WindServer unusual hull design allows very fuel-efficient travel while also being very stable when stationary, which is ideal for transferring engineers to turbines Photograph: Fjellstrand Windserver/Carbon Trust

The Pivoting Deck Vessel, by North Sea Logistics, incorporates a deck into the vessel, which links with the turbine foundation and reduces motion significantly during transfers. It also allows heavier equipment to be transferred compared to many alternatives Photograph: North Sea Logistics/Carbon Trust

The Houlder Turbine Access System has a light design that can be fitted to smaller vessels to deliver a more cost effective solution than larger dynamically positioned boats carrying complex transfer platforms Photograph: Houlder and BMT Nigel Gee/Carbon Trust

The Momac Offshore Transfer System is a robot arm which uses sensors to measure the motions of the vessel and adjust the position of the arm to keep the transfer platform stable Photograph: MOTS/Carbon Trust

The Divex launch and recovery systemDivex LARS adapts principles from the diving industry, to use a semi-submersible cradle that can be lowered from the mother ship to launch and retrieve daughter craft Photograph: Divex/Carbon Trust

Offshore Kinetics is developing a complete maintenance system for offshore wind parks, consisting of mother ship, service vessels and personnel facilities. It has designed a lift system to launch and recover daughter crafts from the mother ship, and to move the daughter crafts around the deck so that a number of vessels can be operated Photograph: Carbon Trust