Jifmar Offshore Services and World Marine Offshore have signed a MoU to establish a JV to provide offshore wind services to the French market.
The JV will offer CTVs to the French offshore wind market based on the unique design of World Marine Offshore which is specially designed for harsh conditions with transfer capabilities guaranteed in up to 2.0 m Hs and even 2.5 m Hs.
These vessels are perfectly suitable to meet the highest expectations and adverse weather conditions of the Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel, Jifmar said.
The company will offer all kinds of vessels from CTVs to SOVs as well as Walk-to-Work vessels, DSVs and DP multicats mobilizing the owned or managed fleet from both companies. They will also offer ROV solutions.
The JV will also deliver commissioning services, shore logistics, operation and maintenance solutions as well as marine coordination and cable related services.
WMO CEO Lars Christian Zohner said: “We have been focusing on the French market over the last decade.
“We know exactly how challenging the French offshore wind farms can be from an operational point of view as well as from a weather perspective.
“By teaming up with Jifmar, we increase the local content and the local knowledge. Both companies are very similar although operating in two different parts of the industry.
“In addition to investment capacity and operational excellence, like- minded entrepreneurs are very important when you discuss a JV from which you operate 8+ vessels and a variety of services for long term contracts.
Jifmar co-founder and CEO Jean Michel Berud said: “As the French market is our home market, we have invested in a local set up since 2005.
“Although, we recently purchased two CTVs and turned them into DP1 vessels for a long term governmental contract, we never intended to enter the offshore wind CTV market as a sole player.
“When the partnership with WMO came up, and we saw how different their vessels were, we started believing in the JV’s success.
“Jifmar is a specialist when it comes to DP Multicats and has the largest fleet of such vessels. We are innovative and built our reputation on delivering high quality services to our clients.
“By meeting Lars and WMO’s team we met with a company sharing the same DNA and the same level of expectations. You can expect the JV to operate with the same standards.”