Boskalis has been awarded a contract for the transportation and installation of the monopile foundations and substations for an offshore wind farm development with a value of approximately EUR 450 million.

Boskalis’ successful track record in offshore wind energy is founded in Europe and has expanded to Asia in recent years and more recently to the US East Coast. Boskalis’ unique offering of marine transport and installation capabilities through its state-of-the-art Bokalift 1 and Bokalift 2 crane vessels and versatile heavy transport fleet are ideally suited for large-scale offshore wind projects.

This contract ties-up one year of crane vessel utilization days in addition to the equivalent of two years of heavy transport vessels. Engineering and pre-construction work has already commenced and project execution is scheduled to commence in 2023.

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The second iteration of the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSbS) is due to be published soon.

The Johnson government has already made a commitment to double spending on shipbuilding in the next 10 years, averaging £1.7Bn a year.

NSbS II looks set to be expanded with a programme that outlines work for the next 30-years.

At the core of the NSbS is the intention to build ships to a regular drumbeat, breaking the disastrous boom and bust cycle that has plagued the industry in the last few decades.

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Brittany Ferries is to add two new hybrid LNG-electric ro-pax ferries to its fleet in 2024-2025 as part of its fleet renewal plan, which is one of the pillars of its five-year, post-Covid recovery strategy.

Both new vessels will be chartered from Stena RoRo #vessels  on a 10-year agreement, which includes an option for Brittany Ferries to purchase them after four years. One will replace Normandie on the route between Portsmouth, UK and Caen, France, while the other will replace Bretagne on the route between Portsmouth and St Malo, France.

The ferries will join two other LNG-fuelled vessels in the fleet, Salamanca and Santoña in 2023, which will operate routes between the UK and Spain from 2022 and 2023 respectively.

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Manor Marine UK Ltd has secured a contract with Mainprize Offshore to build an offshore multi role windfarm service vessel; the MO8 is a bespoke in-house designed 26-metre Supa Swath catamaran designed by Walker Marine Design and due for delivery in Q2 2022.

The build of the MO8 will be the sixth crew transfer vessel constructed by Manor Marine, but the first vessel built for Mainprize Offshore; featuring a Supa-Swath hull form, the vessel will have 175m2 of deck space, a cargo capacity of 35 tonnes, seating for 24 passengers and a maximum speed of 27 knots.

Walker Marine Design has designed several of Manor Marine’s previous vessel build projects, including both the Manor Venture and Manor Endurance for Manor Renewable Energy.

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riumph Subsea Services Ltd. have advised that it has formally cancelled the Letter of Intent that was issued to InfraStrata Plc on the 9th December 2020 for one firm and one optional ST designed 200m x 35m Windfarm Development Vessels (WDV) to be constructed at its Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast.

UK ship repair company Dales Marine Services Ltd has announced a new contract for a new multi-cat style vessel platform for Mowi Ireland.

On the award of this contract, Marine Design International director simon cormack said that his company “demonstrated an in-depth knowledge in vessel engineering and an ability to deliver at a competitive price”.

The new design has been developed with Mowi Ireland as a platform incorporating the hydraulic, pneumatic and electrical supplies required for operations on the farms. This latest model also has propulsion efficiency improvements for transits between sites.

I look forward to visiting Dales Marine Services next week in Greenock who have over 30 years in vessel engineering and dry dock services with multiple vessels visiting its dry docks in Aberdeen, Leith, Greenock and Troon with a supporting dry dock at Grangemouth. Andrew Malcolm

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