Rovco has chartered the MV Patriot for its specialist fleet, which will join the company existing two site characterisation vessels.
Rovco, valued at nearly £200m, will use MV Patriot to support assets across all lifecycles.
Brian Allen, CEO at Rovco, said: “Expanding our fleet of vessels means we can support more stages in offshore wind – from survey stage right through to decommissioning.
“By accelerating timelines and bringing down costs throughout the lifecycle of an asset, we can help change the economics of offshore wind and accelerate progress towards the UK’s 50GW by 2030 target.”
Rovco remains committed to combining AI, robotics and SLAM (simultaneous location and mapping) technologies to support the planning, development, construction, maintenance and decommissioning of offshore sites.
MV Patriot’s active heave crane and 682 sq m deck capacity will bolster Rovco’s construction and operations and maintenance (O&M) expertise.
The vessel consolidates the company’s site clearance ability, including debris and boulder removal and unexploded ordinance (UXO) navigation.
MV Patriot’s significant deck space is set to reduce the volume of trips back to shore. In addition, its DP2 station keeping capability will provide a stable platform for launch and recovery in marginal weather.
This will allow Rovco to schedule wider working windows across surveys and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) inspections.
Rovco will take delivery of the vessel at the end of March for a three-year period and it has an option to extend the agreement by a further two years.
The addition of the MV Patriot follows the long-term charters of Rovco’s Glomar Supporter and Glomar Worker.
Rovco’s Director of O&M, Marc Coull, said: “We’re delighted to be adding the highly versatile and capable MV Patriot to our fleet.
This provides a further platform for our leading technology in areas such as visual pilot assist, autonomous general visual inspection, as well as ensuring that auto-eventing and reporting can be utilised more widely.”