Norway's Solstad Offshore has scooped its second wind farm charter in Taiwan within a month.
The Oslo-listed offshore vessel owner said Danish energy giant Orsted has signed up the 107-loa construction support vessel (CSV) Normand Jarl (built 2013) to work on its Greater Changhua 1 & 2a offshore wind projects.
The firm period of hire is 15 months, with options to extend for five extra monthly terms.
The deal begins during the second quarter of 2021.
Last month, Solstad sealed a contract with an undisclosed contractor for its 94-loa CSV Normand Baltic (built 2010).
This ship will support the development phase of an offshore wind project in Taiwan.
Work will start in the first half of next year for up to 220 days. Rates have not been revealed.
Solstad chief executive Lars Peder Solstad said: "It is very encouraging, within a short time, to announce our second contract within offshore wind in Taiwan.
"Orsted is one of the main players in this industry and we are proud to have been selected as their partner on this project."
Diversification vital
Solstad, which has completed a $2bn financial restructuring this year, hailed the first deal as a continued expansion of its activity within offshore wind, both in Europe and Asia.
Renewables work is increasingly important for oil and gas support shipowners.
Rates have been rock-bottom at £2,000 ($2,600) per day for platform supply vessels at times this year as oil price falls and coronavirus lockdowns hit activity levels.
Rates in September have improved, however, as vessels have been redeployed elsewhere or laid up.
Fixtures for PSVs were being concluded at £7,500 and £8,000 per day this week, brokers said.
Anchor-handling tug supply units are attracting £27,500 per day for rig work.
A total of 32 AHTS ships are stacked in North Sea ports, as opposed to 26 working vessels in Norway and the UK.
Utilisation for both ship types is up above 80%.
Owners still stacking ships
Norwegian broker Westshore reported four vessels put into lay-up last month.
On the AHTS side, Bourbon's 20,000-bhp Bourbon Orca (built 2006) was stacked in Alesund, Norway.
Meanwhile, three PSVs were idled. The 4,100-dwt Hermit Galaxy (built 2016), operated by restructuring Hermitage Offshore; Tidewater's 5,000-dwt North Pomor (built 2013); and DOF's 4,100-dwt Skandi Buchan (built 2002) were all stacked in Norway.
There are now 50 PSVs laid up in North Sea ports, with 41 operational.
Solstad said in its second quarter results last week that "there are reasons to believe that the activity in general will be reduced compared to earlier expectations, but that activity linked to production will be less affected than activity linked to exploration and maintenance."
And the shipowner added: "On the more positive side, the activity within offshore wind continues to grow. Not only in Europe, but also in other areas and particularly Asia."
The Lars Peder Solstad-led company logged a net loss of NOK 805m ($92.5m) in the second quarter, compared to NOK 343m in 2019.
The 127 ships brought in revenue of NOK 1.33bn, against NOK 1.37bn a year ago.
