Several recent contracts inked for offshore vessels, equipment and newbuilds

In partnership with Omega Subsea, the Normand Jarstein construction support vessel (CSV) will start a 135-day firm contract in March offshore West Africa, providing a range of subsea services.

Offshore Taiwan, the Normand Australis CSV has a 200-day firm contract for a renewable energy development, with the program due to start next month.

Finally, the Normand Scorpion anchor handling tug supply vessel will shortly begin a 78-day firm contract, providing rig support offshore Australia.

All three arrangements carry extension options.

Seaonics will provide five electric-controlled, motion-compensated (ECMC) gangways and five ECMC 3D cranes for new walk-to-work offshore service vessels under construction at the Vard Vung Tau shipyard in Vietnam.

The vessels will perform maintenance, supply and other services for offshore oil and gas installations.

According to Seaonics, the ECMC systems should ensure stable movements of the equipment, even in rough seas, by compensating for the vessel motion.

The gangways will transfer cargo and personnel from the vessels to offshore installations, and the cranes will have a lifting capacity of 15 t 3D lift and 15 t motion-compensated subsea lift. Both systems have an outreach of 30 m.

The ECMC systems will also tap into the VARD 3 32-design vessels’ DC grid and battery system.

All the vessels are due to be delivered in 2027.

Myklebust Shipyard orders Hydroniq seawater coolers for subsea vessels

Myklebust Verft has contracted Hydroniq Coolers to supply the marine cooling system for two subsea vessels ordered by Rem Offshore.

Newbuild 82, an energy subsea construction vessel, is said to be the first of its kind designed to undertake heavy construction duties for offshore wind and subsea deployments with net zero emissions.

The onboard equipment is said to almost halve energy consumption compared to existing offshore vessels, featuring dual-fuel methanol engines combined with battery packs.

Newbuild 83 is a subsea inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) vessel that will feature dual-fuel engines capable of running on bio-methanol and biodiesel, along with a battery energy storage system and regenerative energy systems.

It is designed to deliver a 90% reduction in emissions than established IMR vessels when operating on bio-methanol and a 30% reduction when using conventional fuels compared to existing IMR vessels.

Hydroniq will supply its Pleat seawater coolers to lower temperatures in the ships’ engines, propulsion and other auxiliary systems through using seawater to avoid overheating of the engine and other critical items.

Maintenance of the coolers involves dismantling, high-pressure cleaning and disassembly of certain elements. In comparison to a conventional heat exchanger, one Pleat cooling element is said to be equivalent to about 15 plates. One person can clean a Pleat within 1 hour, Hydroniq adds.

Penta-Ocean Construction (POC) has ordered a 5,000-mt tub-mounted crane and monopile handling system from Huisman.

The handling system will include a motion-compensated pile gripper.

This equipment was developed under a collaboration with POC and Ulstein for a new heavy-lift vessel for the Japanese offshore wind sector.

According to Huisman, the active heave-compensated tub-mounted crane will feature a dual main hoist and Universal Quick Connector, facilitating fast and secure tool changes.

Other features include a compact tail swing said to enable deck space optimization, no counterweight, a full revolving capacity, and an in-house engineered slew bearing.

The pile gripper was designed for the installation of large-diameter, variable-length monopiles over the vessel’s U-shaped stern. Monopiles will be stored lengthwise on the vessel; the upending system will enable direct handling from storage to installation.

In addition, Seatrium has been awarded a contract by POC to carry out the engineering, procurement and construction for a 5,000-ton fully revolving heavy-lift vessel project for the Japanese offshore wind market. 

This will be the fifth and largest vessel to be added to POC’s fleet, which Seatrium says will enable POC to undertake larger wind turbine projects in offshore wind construction.

Tidal Transit has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Britoil Offshore Services (Singapore) and Sky Offshore (South Korea) to develop, fund, build and operate offshore support vessels for the South Korean offshore wind industry.

South Korea has set a nationwide goal of reaching 14.3 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030. To accelerate this expansion, the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) is launching a number of key initiatives aimed at stimulating sector growth and strengthening the renewable energy capacity of the country.