OFFSHORE RENEWABLES

Deal delivers offshore renewables vessel

15 years ago

Aberdeen UK based SeaHold GeoShips Limited (GeoShips) has chartered its first new multi-purpose offshore vessel to support the growing offshore renewable energy market and the subsea sector.

To enable GeoShips to offer a full suite of services from the Stril Explorer, and future vessels, the company has entered into agreements with ROV services provider Hallin Marine UK Ltd and survey and positioning contractor NCS Survey.

The contract is worth in the region of £15m to £20m and will result in the creation of an unspecified number of new job opportunities within all three companies.

The Stril Explorer has been chartered from Mokster A/S until 31 August 2012. Agreements are in place for a fixed period of three years initially, with the prospect of a further two years subject to market conditions.

Formed in 2003, GeoShips has a strong focus on offshore renewable energy projects, whilst also being able to offer services in support of subsea oil and gas related projects. The company is anticipating good growth in 2011 and expects to add one more vessel to its medium term fleet this year, to be followed by a similarly sized vessel in Q1/2012. The new agreements mean that Hallin Marine UK Ltd and NCS Survey will also provide their respective services on the two future GeoShips controlled vessels.

Kenny Macleod, GeoShips chairman said, “The Stril Explorer and our future planned vessels enable our partnership to support both the growing offshore renewable energy market and the subsea oil and gas sector worldwide, but particularly the European market.

The 76m dynamically positioned (DP2) vessel has a unique design, boasting two ROV hangars, the main one of which dominates midships and stretches the breadth of the vessel. This gives the company the opportunity to potentially install larger subsea equipment as opposed to two standard WROVs. The other smaller hangar is designed for an observation class ROV or air diving spread. A 60 ton SWL knuckle-boom crane is fitted to the vessel, allowing a working depth of 1,500m with the option of going to 2,000m.

The vessel has multi-level working decks, resulting in over 900m² of workable deck areas. One and two man berths allow the vessel to accommodate 70 personnel and there is also a helideck, gym, jacuzzi, large control rooms, conference rooms and office facilities.