Louis Dreyfus orders wind farm vessel at Cemre Shipyard

FEBRUARY 8, 2017 — Louis Dreyfus Armateurs Group, Paris, France, has ordered a new Wind Farm Service Operation Vessel (SOV) based on a design from Salt Ship Design in Stord, Norway. The new SOV will be built by Cemre Shipyard in Turkey, and the vessel will be delivered by the shipbuilder in fourth quarter 2018.

The vessel will be chartered by Denmark’s DONG Energy Wind Power A/S and will operate on four wind farms off the German coast (Borkum Riffgrund 1&2, Gode Wind 1&2), enabling the maintenance of wind turbines by wind farm technicians.

The ship has an accommodation capacity of a minimum of 60 technicians (in addition to the crew), offering the most modern comfort conditions onboard (individual cabins, gym, cinema, etc.). In good weather conditions, the technicians will be safely transferred to the wind turbines via a specially designed daughter craft, with a state-of-the-art dynamic motion compensated gangway allowing for a fast and secure transfer of personnel in heavy seas.

The contract with Salt, which will supply a complete design and engineering package, is its first in the Offshore Wind Farm segment.

LDA says it has “made the choice of the best shipbuilding standards and innovations which both limit the ship’s environmental impact and reduce its operating costs, such as a hybrid propulsion system using a diesel engine and batteries.”

“We are proud of this contract with DONG Energy Wind Power A/S, a leading global offshore wind company. This fully achieves our development strategy in the dynamic RME sector. The construction and the operation of this ship rely on the know-how in industrial shipping that we have been developing for the past 20 years. More than ever, we are pursuing our policy to develop high value-added maritime activities,” said Edouard Louis-Dreyfus, President of the Louis Dreyfus Armateurs Group.

This new ship will fly the French RIF flag and will be manned by two crews of 20 to 25 members including at least 8 French officers, thus creating a minimum of 16 French officer jobs.

Vessel’s main specifications:

Length Overall: 83.00 m
Breadth: 19.40 m
Depth molded: 7.00 m
Draft summer (design): 5.00 m
Propulsion: Diesel electric propulsion, Dynamic positioning DP2
Accommodations: Capacity forf 90 persons including more than 60 windfarm technicians

Vessel’s transfer specifications:

A daughter craft with a capacity of 8 technicians and 1 ton of cargo
A motion compensated gangway (abt 19 m range)
A motion compensated crane (1 ton at 23 m)

Illustration: STORM