St. Johns Ship Building delivers first of three Windea CTVs

Windea Courageous [Photo: St. Johns Ship Building]

St. Johns Ship Building, Palatka, Fla., reports that it has delivered the Windea Courageous, the first of three Incat Crowther 30 meter Crew Transfer Vessels (CTVs) ordered by Windea CTV, LLC, a partnership of Hornblower Wind and MidOcean Wind. The vessel will support the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind farm 15 miles off the coast of Massachusetts and is already onsite in New Bedford, Mass., supporting the project, which this week delivered power to the New England grid for the first time.

St. Johns Ship Building, which was acquired by Americraft Marine, a maritime subsidiary of the Logothetis family’s Libra Group, in 2022, says the construction of this series of Incat-designed Windea CTV vessels signals the official launch of its new dedicated focus on constructing high-speed aluminum vessels. The groundwork for this focus on construction of Jones Act-compliant CTVs was laid more than two years ago through multiple facility modifications and the acquisition of new production equipment such as the installation of a CNC router for processing of non-ferrous metals and composite materials.

“This delivery marks a proud moment of validation,” said Ed Sheets, executive vice president and director of business strategy at Americraft Marine. “The Windea Courageous is a statement vessel for St Johns Ship Building and marks the first measurable accomplishment in what has been a two-year effort to convert the facility and its many talented and hard working personnel from a history in building primarily steel vessels, to constructing advanced design, high speed, aluminum vessels. To say we are simply proud of the accomplishment doesn’t do justice to the hard work and sacrifice of the SJSB team. They have all risen to the many challenges we have faced during this transition and at the same time, have raised the bar in this industry segment itself.”

“St. John’s Ship Building achieved a significant milestone with the successful construction and delivery of this Windea CTV LLC crew transfer vessel. Their dedicated efforts and expertise ensured the completion of the project with precision and adherence to quality standards,” said Junior Volpe, SVP of vessel construction and repair at Hornblower Group.”