Greece's Asso Group has revealed the acquisition of a construction support vessel (CSV) to boost its trenching operations in offshore wind.
The company said the 111-loa SBM Installer (built 2013) has been bought for an undisclosed price.
Asso is taking over the ship in Algeciras, Spain, this week as the Athena.
The unit has been reflagged to Greece and will now be classed by ABS.
The Athena joins an expanding fleet of nine ships to support offshore wind subsea projects.
VesselsValue assesses the CSV as worth nearly $27m.
"Thanks to her unique twin-deck arrangement and a high-spec integrated set of anchor-handling and towing winches, the Athena is an extremely flexible asset, ideally equipped for multi-purpose roles in the growing floating offshore wind market," Asso said.
Norwegian vessel added in 2020
Asso's last big purchase saw it acquire the 111-loa Argo (built 2011), the former Polar King, from GC Rieber Shipping of Norway in 2020.
The new high-specification vessel "will significantly improve the group's capacity and capabilities in the constantly growing subsea cable installation market," Asso said.
General manager Alexandros Tziotakis added: "This further investment confirms once again the strong commitment of Asso towards its customers, in line with the strategic objectives of the group to deploy state of the art assets and ensure the highest quality services."
"In the past five years we have invested more than €150m ($170m) to renew and expand the company’s fleet," he added.
