NYK's First Crew Transfer Vessel Starts Northern Offshore Charter

Japan's NYK said Thursday its new crew transfer vessel (CTV) Energizer had started its charter with Northern Offshore Services AS (NOS), a subsidiary of the Sweden-based Northern Offshore Group AB (NOG).

The CTV, which will be used to service offshore wind farms, is owned by NYK and is being chartered to NOS through a long-term bareboat charter contract. It will transfer crews to offshore wind power stations, mainly in Europe, under the operation of NOS. 

NOG operates about 60 CTVs in the offshore wind power market in Europe, and NYK and NOG signed an MoU in December 2019 to explore a CTV business related to offshore wind power generation. This bareboat charter contract is a partial development of that MoU and will be the first CTV owned by NYK. When it first announced the charter deal back in 2021, NYK said the term was for ten years. Credit: NYK

As an owner of a CTV and participant in this business, NYK will dispatch its marine engineers to NOS to engage in operation and ship management in order to gain the leading European knowledge in offshore wind power generation.

In addition, NYK said it was preparing to expand its domestic CTV business by strengthening cooperation with partners in each region, such as collaboration with Akita Eisen KK, which is the only towing company in Japan’s Akita prefecture, and a cooperation agreement with Akita Prefecture.

"We will continue to aim to contribute to the spread of offshore wind power generation through the CTV business in cooperation with NOG," NYK said.