The ship is vessel number four and design number eight in the long-term collaboration between two spearheads in the offshore wind industry; ESVAGT, the Danish offshore wind pioneer, and Havyard, the first company to offer special designs for offshore wind vessels and now also the company behind a long line of world-leading windfarm service vessels.

The vessel that was handed over on Friday is the last in a record series, but also the first in a new series to be delivered to ESVAGT. While the first vessel has been completed, work is well under way on the second vessel, and the third is being towed to the yard in Leirvik, scheduled for arrival early next year.

The work of fitting out the vessel faced some extra challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic, but Project Manager Jan-André Førde Systad at New Havyard Ship Technology says that the cooperation with ESVAGT has been excellent this time as well.

‘ESVAGT is a good customer that we have worked with for a long time. We know their systems and their expectations, so the ship we’re handing over is a very good one. Now we’re looking forward to starting work on the next vessel.’

Excellent scores on environmental, safety and financial criteria
Major investments are expected to be made in offshore wind all over the world. In addition, more offshore wind parks are now being placed further away from the coast, which means the industry will need specialised service vessels. To accommodate this market, Havyard has used several of the group’s companies to develop and deliver HAVYARD 831L SOV, which provides customers with vessels that score high on environmental, safety and financial criteria.

Group cooperation
Among other things, Havyard Design & Solutions has used the tools available in the Havyard lab, such as digital twin ships and a virtual ocean, to develop vessels with optimal positioning qualities and excellent seaworthiness – important qualities to ensure the operability of the offshore wind farms. This way, the shipping company and the client receive vessels tailored for the assignment in question, with optimum energy efficiency and reliability.

Gisle Vinjevoll Thrane, Vice President Sales at Havyard Design & Solutions, also emphasises the combination of Havyard design and ESVAGT’s own transfer vessel design.

‘This line of windfarm service vessels is a good example of the result of team efforts. Through our long-standing, close cooperation with ESVAGT, we have gotten to know each other and built trust. That means we can also challenge each other and build ships that are in high demand in the market.’

Norwegian Electric Systems has delivered the energy design, control systems and complete propulsion system for the vessel. New Havyard Ship Technology, on its part, has fitted out, tested and completed the vessel, which will now be sent to Belgium where equipment will be brought on board to prepare the vessel for assignments on the field already before the turn of the year.