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South Boats wins £22m order book
01 Aug 2008
Prospects for the South Boats order book are looking ever better, as its main area of current activity is the building of wind farm support vessels, a market which is booming and not expected to peak until after 2015.
It was a tale spanning two shows for South Boats, as their £2.2m contract with MPI Offshore for two newly designed wind farm service vessels won at Seawork 07 came to fruition this year. The completed 15m 'MPI Sancho Panza' was signed over at Seawork 08 to MPI Offshore (part of the Vroon Shipping Group), with a longer 17m 'MPI Don Quixote' due to join 'Sancho Panza' later this year.
Ben Coleman explained that the whimsical names were decided by the Dutch owners, in honour of the two fictional would-be knights who go tilting, appropriately, at windmills!
Both the 'MPI Sancho Panza', and the 'Solway Spirit', another Seawork signing, are examples of the South Catamaran alloy 47/15 wind farm service vessels (WFSV) and tied in perfectly with the Marine Renewable Energy theme at the Seawork Conference this year.
The 'Solway Spirit' is entering service and will be operating for E.ON Climate and Renewables UK on their Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm project on the Solway Firth.
South Boats also added a little glamour to complement their functional WFSVs with 'Reeta' also alongside on the Seawork pontoon. The decidedly smart GRP South Catamaran 36/11m MkII Sports Cruiser has been registered as a working yacht.
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