South Boats sells six WFSVs in a week
The Offshore Wind Services craft are the latest generation of South Boats’ wind farm service vessels and are the third and fourth of the new 19m class.
Last week was a busy one for South Boats Special Projects Ltd, as the Isle of Wight UK workboat builder received orders for a total of six new vessels.
Offshore Wind Services BV signed a contract for two South Catamaran 19m Wind Farm Support Vessels which will be built at South Boats’ new facility in East Cowes, with delivery scheduled for March and April 2012.
Seacat Services Ltd then signed a contract for the construction of a further four vessels. Two of these will be South Catamaran 24m WFSVs, to be named Seacat Resolute and Seacat Vigilant. and two further vessels, which have been allocated build slots have been allocated for an additional two vessels, the size of which will be dictated by clients' and industry demand.
The Offshore Wind Services craft are the latest generation of South Boats’ wind farm service vessels and are the third and fourth of the new 19m class. Both will be built to DNV 1A1 HSLC R2 Wind Farm Service 1 class and UK MCA Category 1 flag.
Twin MTU 10V2000M72 1,205 mhp marine diesel engines with ZF gears will drive UltraDynamics UJ575 water jet units for sprint speeds to 27 knots. The 19m is the first vessel to be designed with the benefit of extensive motion data captured from existing vessels and various wind farm projects. The hull is also fully tank tested to optimise the performance without sacrificing any of the company’s sea keeping and general purpose working abilities. The vessels are designed to be capable of accepting the Houlder TAS access system and can accommodate three 10ft containers on deck.
Offshore Wind Services BV is a cooperative venture between two Dutch companies, Workship Contractors and Royal Doeksen, working under an agreement with established UK operator, Offshore Wind Power Marine Services Ltd (OWPMS) of Conwy, North Wales. The vessels will be branded as OWPMS craft.
The Seacat Resolute and Seacat Vigilant are both variants of the new 24m design that will be used for servicing offshore wind farms in the European sector. Both aluminium craft will start production within the next eight weeks and will be delivered in August and September 2012. The third and fourth vessels are scheduled for delivery during Q1, 2013.
These vessels will join the South Catamaran 19m vessels Seacat Endeavour and Seacat Reliance that will enter service in May and June 2012 respectively. The high specification vessels will both be built to DNV 1A1 HSLC R2 Wind Farm Service 1 and UK flag and will feature a soft mounted superstructure and new modular internal arrangement so that the entire configuration of the saloon can be adapted between projects and between the requirements of construction and O&M.
Both vessels will be capable of carrying three 10ft containers and large cargo payloads and will be powered by twin MTU 12V2000M72 marine engines and Rolls-Royce 56A3 waterjets for speeds in excess of 28 knots.
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