Hornbeck Offshore Services taps Eastern for OSV to SOV conversion

OSV to SOV conversion will see a 280 foot, 2014-built OSV emerge as a battery-hybrid SOV accommodating 90 or more personnel. [Image: HOS]

Panama City, Fla., headquartered Eastern Shipbuilding Group has been contracted by Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. to convert a 280-foot offshore supply vessel (OSV) to a service operation vessel (SOV). The 280-foot vessel was constructed by Eastern Shipbuilding Group in 2014. It will be converted at the company’s 300-acre Allanton Shipyard and will emerge from the OSV to SOV conversion as the HOSSOV 300E, a U.S.-flag, Jones Act compliant vessel capable of supporting both construction and O&M activities.

The vessel is scheduled for delivery in the spring of 2025, ready to meet the growing demand of the U.S. offshore wind industry, as well as those of the petro-energy flotel market.

“This SOV conversion is a transformational project that will serve the emerging U.S. offshore wind market,” said Joey D’Isernia, CEO of Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc. “We are proud to be the first shipbuilding company to blaze this trail with a vessel we crafted and with our great partners at Hornbeck Offshore Services.”

“We are excited to expand our deep experience in walk-to-work and offshore accommodation services with a fully capable SOV for the benefit of the offshore wind community and our offshore petroleum clients,” said Todd Hornbeck, president and CEO of Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc. “The SOV is a welcomed addition to our high-spec fleet of vessels, as we continue to grow in both our core oilfield and diversified non-oilfield businesses.”

The HOSSOV 300E has been designed in collaboration with Vard Marine, its original designer, to address the key “desirements” of the U.S. offshore wind client community based upon Vard’s other recent SOV designs. It will have capacity to accommodate up to 90 or more persons in flotel or offshore wind service mode, with safe, stepless walk-to-work transfer capabilities in up to 2.5 meter sea states. The SOV will be equipped with an Uptime International AS 30-meter motion-compensated offshore gangway, a 10-ton 3D-compensated crane, helideck, enclosed warehouse and stepless boat landing.

The OSV to SOV conversion will see the vessel’s existing diesel-electric powerplant enhanced by a 1,500 kW-hour battery hybrid power system, enabling reduced emission during offshore operations and in harbor transit.

The SOV accommodations will be constructed to ABS Comfort Class habitability notation standards, and will include a range of onboard amenities typical of a newbuild SOV.