Swift system pulls people to safety in under a minute

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A new rescue system has been demonstrated that pulls anyone who has fallen overboard from a ship out of the water in under a minute.

Swift can be incorporated into the design of a new crew transfer vessel or retrofitted into existing vessels
Swift can be incorporated into the design of a new crew transfer vessel or retrofitted into existing vessels - Zelim

At a three-day demonstration around Vattenfall’s Ramsgate offshore wind cluster, Edinburgh-based Zelim demonstrated how their Swift Rescue Conveyor system was around four times faster in recovering man overboard situations in the harbourside demonstration and twenty times faster offshore.

The Swift system operates like a conveyor belt, which is rapidly deployed into the water and pulls people to safety on board. The trials in Ramsgate showed it to be much faster, safer and easier to rescue one or more people compared with conventional rescue systems.

The demonstration was organised in collaboration with the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult. Zelim Swift was operated by a single Zelim engineer while the conventional equipment was operated by a member of the CWind vessel crew who supplied the boat for the demonstration.

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“When bringing a new life saving product to market, proof of performance is everything,” Sam Mayall, CEO of Zelim said in a statement. “We are very grateful for the support from Vattenfall, CWind and ORE Catapult who gave us this opportunity to show the world just how well the Swift works. The conditions were rough, with most vessels electing to shelter in Ramsgate harbour, but it set the stage perfectly for an overboard recovery trial, because as we all know accidents tend to occur when the sun isn’t shining.” 

Zelim said the Swift can be incorporated into the design of a new crew transfer vessel or retrofitted into existing vessels.

“We are delighted that Zelim have successfully demonstrated their Swift system at an operational wind farm, said Hamish MacDonald, project engineer at ORE Catapult. “This continues a long collaborative journey with ORE Catapult, which started with them being selected to join our Launch Academy programme back in 2019. These opportunities allow SMEs to prove innovative technologies in real-world conditions, and we’re grateful to Vattenfall for facilitating this trial within our collaboration agreement."