General – New ECV
Vard signed a contract for the design and construction of one state-of-the-art Energy Construction Vessel (ECV) with Wind Energy Construction.
The parties have also agreed on an option for one additional vessel which can be declared later this year.
Wind Energy Construction is a Norwegian company partly owned by the founders and owners of Norwind Offshore.
This is the 6th vessel the owners of Norwind Offshore have contracted with VARD since October 2021. The five previous vessels were CSOVs.
The Energy Construction Vessel (ECV) will be of VARD 3 11 design, a design tailor-made for the offshore wind and subsea market, including inspection, maintenance and repair of pipes, and construction and installation of infrastructure above and below sea level.
The design is made for the best possible station-keeping, manoeuvrability, and seakeeping and allows for flexible configuration depending on the specific operations the vessel will perform.
This is the first construction vessel VARD will build with a motion-compensated gangway (walk-to-work) permanently installed.
A walk-to-work Electric Controlled Motion Compensated (ECMC) gangway with integrated 3D compensated crane functionality will be installed. To expand capacities, especially towards the growing renewables market, a movement-compensated offshore crane of 150 tons is also being installed.
