Merwde Shipyard won the order due to its ability to engineer and supply the vessel, including the integration of the 5,000mt heavy lift crane, for delivery at a fixed price in the first quarter of 2010. The vessel will be built at the IHC Krimpen Shipyard, which was only acquired late last year as the Group’s fourth slipway.

The vessel is designed to support the offshore construction of platforms, platform removal, subsea construction and other special projects. Its introduction to the market in 2010 will more than double Seaway Heavy Lifting’s capacity.

The DP3 vessel will measure 183m LOA with a draft of 8.5m in transit and 13.84m when lifting. Six main diesel gensets of 4,500 kW each will power two 5,000 kW azimuthing propulsion thrusters aft, two retractable azimuthing DP thrusters of 3,500 kW amidships and two 1,012 kW tunnel thrusters at the bow.

At the end of May, IHC Holland Merwede had some €1.2bn of work in progress. The Group had also received a letter of intent worth €450m for three dredgers. The order portfolio also included a rigid reeled pipe laying vessel, a flexible pipe laying vessel, two diving support vessels to different designs, a multi-purpose dive support and ROV support offshore construction vessel, a multi-purpose offshore construction vessel and another six dredgers.

IHC’s new Krimpen facility enables vessels of up to 240m length and 38m beam to be built. The outfitting quay has sufficient length for completing any vessel launched from the slipway and there is direct access to the open sea. It has boosted the newbuilding capacity of the Group by some 50%.