Offshore Construction Vessel News

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a 50-year-old man from a deepwater construction vessel approximately 35 miles south of Grand Isle, Louisiana, Monday.Coast Guard Sector New Orleans watchstanders received a call at approximately 4:58 a.m. from the operating manager of the vessel requesting assistance to medevac a passenger experiencing chest pain.Watchstanders then coordinated the launch of a Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew to assist.The aircrew arrived on scene…

A rising tide lifts all boats, as the saying goes, and while the offshore industry is currently experiencing a wide-ranging surge, there are vessel types and specific market segments that are expected to benefit more than others.One such segment is the offshore construction vessel (OCV) types, which to an increasing degree have found themselves in hot demand from both oil and gas developments as well as offshore wind activities.While vessel definitions and abbreviations in this space can vary…

The UK defense ministry has acquired a subsea construction vessel that used to work in the offshore energy industry. The vessel, Topaz Tangaroa, will undergo a period of military modification and will be used to protect subsea cables and oil and gas pipelines.The Topaz Tangaora, to be renamed as it joins the Royal Fleet Auxiliary fleet, is the first of two future undersea surveillance ships, and it arrived at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead. Thursday.Once operational, the ship will be used to protect seabed telecommunications cables and oil and gas pipelines. "The 98-meter-long, adaptable offshore patrol vessel – the length of Big Ben – will act as a ‘mother ship’…

Norwegian offshore vessel owner Volstad Maritime has contracted Norwegian Electric Systems AS (NES) to deliver the battery pack and associated control system for battery charging to the Grand Canyon III offshore construction vessel. “The demand for retrofitting battery power on board offshore vessels continues to grow as many shipowners, such as Volstad Maritime, are dedicated to reducing their carbon footprint. Lower operating expenditure through reduced fuel consumption is an additional…

American Shipping Company ASA (AMSC) has completed the acquisition and taken delivery of the Normand Maximus construction support vessel.The vessel has already started a long-term bareboat charter with a subsidiary of the Norwegian offshore vessel operator Solstad Offshore upon delivery."The Normand Maximus is a premier offshore construction vessel and one of  the most modern heavy duty subsea vessels. Solstad is a leading offshore services company with a large fleet of offshore vessels operating  globally.

Singapore-based offshore energy services provider PACC Offshore Services Holdings (“POSH”) has agreed to buy the 119-meter long, DP-3 offshore construction vessel ‘BOA Deep C’ from Norway's BOA OCV AS. The vessel will be renamed ‘POSH Deep C’ and will join the POSH fleet in October 2022. POSH said the addition of the multipurpose Offshore Construction Vessel (“OCV”), built in 2003, was part of its strategy to increase its service offerings. The financial details were not disclosed."The OCV’s versatility will complement the existing fleet with capabilities including subsea installation works and turnkey towage and installation services for the floating offshore wind and energy sector…

Subsea service provider Reach Subsea has chartered Volstad Maritime's offshore construction vessel Deep Cygnus for four years, with an option to extend for one year.The vessel will be equipped with launch and recovery systems (LARS) and ROVs before the delivery to Reach Subsea.Reach will mobilize the 122-meter vessel during February/March 2023 and use the vessel on its own projects within IMR (inspection maintenance and repair) and light construction within the oil & gas and renewables sectors. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed."This subsea spread is well suited for our core focus markets and has a good fit with the tenders we currently have outstanding…

American Shipping Company ASA (AMSC) has agreed to acquire the Normand Maximus construction support vessel from Maximus Limited, a company controlled by its secured lenders.In parallel with the transaction, AMSC will enter into a long-term bareboat agreement with a subsidiary of the Norwegian offshore services provider Solstad Offshore. Solstad Offshore has managed the vessel for years, and the deal with AMSC means it will continue to do so.The total purchase price for the vessel is about USD 157 million…

Oil and gas company VAALCO Energy has hired DOF Subsea to perform subsea construction and installation services offshore Gabon, where the company operates the Etame field.The contract is for the support of the subsea reconfiguration associated with the replacement of the existing Floating Production, Storage and Offloading unit (“FPSO”) with a Floating Storage and Offloading vessel (“FSO”) at the offshore field.VAALCO in 2021 said it had struck a charter deal with the FSO owner World Carrier Offshore Services Corp for the Cap Diamant, a double-hull crude tanker built in 2001, which will be converted to an FSO for operations at the Etame field.By deploying the FSO at the field…

Thai-based offshore services company Mermaid Subsea Services has agreed to buy a 50% ownership share in the Millennium 3 offshore construction vessel from PT David Marine for $16 million.The Millennium 3 is a DP2 construction support vessel built in 2011 in Indonesia by Nantong Dongjiang Shipyard Co. Ltd. and is currently operating in the Persian Gulf. Classified by Bureau Veritas, the ship is flagged under the state of Comoros, with Moroni listed as its port of registration. The vessel has a 300-ton crane and accommodation berths for 239 personnel. The seller, PT David Marine, is affiliated with Mubarak Marine, a UAE-based company that provides…

Norwegian offshore vessel owner Solstad Offshore said Tuesday it had secured two contracts for its large construction vessels.The medium-term contracts are for the vessels Normand Navigator and Normand Frontier.The Normand Navigator, a 142,6 meters long vessel built in 2015, has been awarded a contract with an undisclosed client in South East Asia. The work is scheduled to start in September 2021 and will keep the vessel utilized until the end of the year, Solstad said. The vessel is currently in India…

Norwegian offshore vessel owner Eidesvik Offshore has won a contract with offshore installation firm Havfram for its construction support vessel Viking Neptun. The contract will start in early January 2022 with a firm period towards the end of the third quarter of 2022. Havfram, formerly known as Ocean Installer, will have options for further extension. The Viking Neptun is an offshore construction vessel built for servicing the SURF (Subsea, Umbilical, Riser, and Flowlines) market. The vessel is equipped with hybrid technology to ensure reduced emissions. Jan Fredrik Meling, CEO & President of Eidesvik Offshore said:  “We look forward to continuing our good cooperation with Havfram and welcome our clients’ increasing focus on environmentally friendly vessel solutions.

Dutch Damen Shipyards Group has delivered a Fast Crew Supplier (FCS) 1605 to offshore installation firm Allseas to support its Pioneering Spirit vessel, the largest offshore construction vessel in the world.The FCS 1605 vessel will perform fast crew and personnel transfers to and from the Pioneering Spirit. Damen secured the contract for the vessel, named Ricochet, on March 15. "The delivery was fast as a result of Damen’s practice of building its vessels in series for stock. When Allseas placed its order with Damen, the FCS 1605 was already built.

Offshore services firm Allseas said Wednesday it had removed the former DP3 gas production topsides from Spirit Energy’s Morecambe Bay development in the East Irish Sea, using the giant Pioneering Spirit vessel.This follows the removal of the adjacent DP4 topsides and subsequent transport to the UK in April. The two normally unmanned installations used to produce gas as part of Spirit Energy’s complex of eight installations in Morecambe Bay. As the field has matured, the reserves the platforms previously tapped into have been produced by the larger…

Oceanteam and Bourbon have signed a deal to sell their jointly owned construction support vessel Bourbon Oceanteam 101 to an unnamed buyer."The sellers and undisclosed buyers have entered into an NSF agreement for the sale of the vessel, the delivery of which will take place in July 2021," Oceanteam said.This is the joint venture's second recent offshore construction vessel sale, following the sale of its construction support vessel Southern Ocean to Boskalis, completed in late April.Keesjan Cordia, Oceanteam's Chairman of the Board said: "Following the sale of CSV Southern Ocean in April 2021 this sale is another significant and final milestone transitioning away from the conventional offshore shipping industry."The sale of the assets will relieve Oceanteam from its liabilities…

Norwegian offshore vessel owner Siem Offshore and Seaway 7, the renewables business unit of Subsea 7, have entered into a contract for an offshore wind project in the Far East. Siem Offshore said that the project will utilize the offshore construction vessel "Siem Barracuda", currently mobilizing to the area of operation, for a minimum period of 100 days, excluding options. Siem Offshore did not say where exactly it would deploy the vessel in the Far East."[....]he company has since its early entrance to the offshore wind segment contributed with over 200,000 personnel transfers at sea, which makes the company a leading player in this segment…

Interest in ammonia-powered fuel cells for the maritime sector is growing, but stakeholders have been hesitant to commit to investments in large-scale systems. Now the ShipFC project is aiming to secure a place for ammonia in the future of deep-sea shipping.The project will equip the offshore supply vessel Viking Energy, owned and operated by Eidesvik and on contract to energy major Equinor, with a 2-megawatt (MW) ammonia fuel cell, allowing it to operate for at least 3,000 hours annually on clean fuel.

Triumph Subsea Services has signed a letter of intent with Infrastrata for the construction of offshore wind farm development vessels at Infrastrata's Harland & Wolff Shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland.The letter of intent envisions the construction of two Windfarm Development Vessels ("WDV) each of which will have a length of 200 meters and a beam of 35 meters.Under the terms of the LoI, InfraStrata's subsidiary, Harland & Wolff - a shipyard that built the Titanic - would be responsible for the build…

Triumph Subsea Services has signed a contract with the Croatian shipbuilder Brodosplit for the construction of a field development vessel.Triumph said Tuesday that the contract was for one firm vessel, with options to order three more.Options will be executed upon completion of the detailed engineering drawings and upon cutting of steel of the initial hull, Triumph Subsea Services said.The first vessel has been assigned hull number 495 and named ‘FDV Chronos’ with expected steel cutting in March / April 2021. The delivery is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2023.

Dutch marine services provider Boskalis will expand its offshore fleet with the multipurpose DP2 offshore construction vessel Boka Tiamat.The company said Thursday that the vessel would arrive in its fleet in January 2021 and that it would be deployed on offshore wind projects in Taiwan."The Boka Tiamat was delivered by the shipyard as a new-build in 2019 and is retrofitted with a 1300 kW SeaQ Energy Storage System, which will reduce fuel consumption and emissions during DP operations…

Dutch maritime heavy lift and transportation services firm Jumbo has completed the first of two contracts supporting two of Subsea 7’s EPIC projects for Total in Angola: CLOV MPP and Zinia Phase 2.The company's Jumbo Vision vessel was used for the first campaign, called CLOV MPP,  picking up an empty 24-meter diameter carousel from Subsea 7’s headquarters in Dusavik, Norway. The H800 Class vessel then sailed to Halden, Norway to load a subsea umbilical, with the carousel and umbilical having a combined weight of 1,255 tonnes.

Offshore vessel operator DOF Subsea has received a notice of early termination of a two-year charter contract for its vessel Skandi Acergy.The notice period is 60 days, and the termination of the charter contract for the construction / flex-lay vessel will be effective on 1 July 2020.While DOF Subsea did not name the client and just said that the notice of termination came from "an international client," its annual report reveals that Skandi Acergy offshore construction vessel had the contract with Subsea 7 until Q2 2022."DOF Subsea is entitled to a termination fee following the termination…

Encouraged by the success of a hybrid drives program, Siemens is going all out in Norway to automate production of that core marine energy storage enabler, the lithium battery. Offshore service vessel charterers, rig owners, ferry operators and ship owners are the target market. Trondheim’s technical university and a recent history of hosting battery makers and system integrators has made it launchpad for new applications involving the new BlueDrive Plus C drives and batteries.Siemens’ Norwegian head of strategy and business development…