Gondan Shipyard has laid the keel for a vessel that will be the mother ship for wind turbine technicians working on Dong Energy’s 573MW Race Bank offshore wind farm located off Norfolk and Lincolnshire.
The Spanish outfit said the keel laying, at its Figueras facility in Castropol, marks the start of the hull assembly in the slipway, where the vessel will remain until her launch next year.
The 81.1-metre long and 17m beam ship is the first of two special operation vessels that Gondon will deliver to the Norwegian shipowner Østensjø Rederi.
Gondon said both ships are being built according the same UT 540 WP design by Rolls Royce Marine.
The Race Bank vessel will be equipped with an Uptime 23m length heave compensated ‘walk-to-work’ gangway, a 3D compensated crane and a CTV landing system with bunkering facility.
An on-board-fitted 11m daughter craft will also allow the transfer of maintenance technicians to the wind farm installations.
Spaniards prep Race Bank SOV
81.1m long vessel will feature heave compensated ‘walk-to-work' gangway
By EBS