Fred Olsen Windcarrier orders crewboats

Fred. Olsen Windcarrier AS, Oslo, Norway, recently entered into a contract with Norwegian shipyard Båtservice Mandal AS for the construction of four crewboats for transport of service technicians to and from offshore wind turbine installations.

The contract contains options for an additional six vessels. The crewboats will be delivered in the fourth quarter 2011 and first quarter 2012. The price per vessel is about NOK 25 million (about $4.27 million).

Fred Olsen Windcarrier AS was formed in 2008 to meet the increase in demand for offshore wind installation vessels and related service vessels, is ndirectly owned 50/50 by Bonheur ASA and Ganger Rolf ASA.

Fred Olsen Windcarrier owns the Wind Crew 1, shown in the thumbnail and enlarged image, which was built in 1989 and converted for service in 2010. The vessel has a length of 19.2m, beam of 5m, draft of 1.8m, and has accommodations for two to three crew and a passenger lounge for 12. The top speed is 25 knots.

Located on the southern coast of Norway, Båtservice Mandal is a specialist in building high-speed vessels, including crewboats, workboats, ferries, pilot boats and patrol boats.

February 12, 2011