Business as usual at Spanish shipyard

The vessels are 88.3m long by 19.7m beam and have been designed by the Norwegian firm Salt Ship Design, for the owner Østensjø Rederi A/S.

Designed with the aim of becoming the world’s most environmentally friendly and most efficient vessels of their kind, they are part of an ambitious construction program, announced by the owner last year, to address the offshore wind market.

All of their on-board systems have been designed to optimize the energy efficiency of the vessels, minimizing their carbon footprint and allowing a stable and safe operation, even in adverse weather conditions.

The design is set to be the first vessel to incorporate technology that will allow zero-emission operation in the future, thanks to the use of hydrogen. It is also set to be the first vessel with Blue Drive + C Star diesel-electric propulsion, which reduces fuel consumption and the first vessel equipped with eVSP propellers.

This fully electrical technology, consisting on a high-quality permanent-magnet electric motor directly integrated into the Voith Schneider propeller, achieves significant reductions in weight and in fuel consumption while minimizing acoustic emissions. –

With this contract, Gondan now has a track record of four vessels for the Offshore Wind Energy sector and 15 vessels built for Østensjø Rederi A/S.

By Jake Frith